Adverbs are used to give a more specific meaning to verbs. They tell us how something is done, when something is done, or where something is done. Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

Look at the following examples of adverbs:

Our vacation was too short - the time went by too “quickly”.

The driver of the car was “seriously” injured in the accident.

Most adverbs are made by adding -ly to the adjective:

Adjective:              Adverb:

quick                     quickly

serious                 seriously

careful                  carefully

quiet                      quietly

sudden                suddenly

careless              carelessly

bad                         badly

immediate         immediately

However, you need to be careful with words that end in -ly. Not all words ending in -ly are adverbs. Some adjectives end in -ly too, for example:

friendly, lively, elderly, lonely, silly and lovely.

Changing adjectives into adverbs:

When adjectives end in a consonant + y, we remove the -y and add -ily:

Adjective:              Adverb:

easy                       easily

lazy                         lazily

crazy                     crazily

angry                     angrily

heavy                     heavily

Look at the different ways that we use adjectives and adverbs:

✅ Adjective:

- James speaks “perfect” English. (adjective + noun)
- Jen “looked happy” when I saw her. (Jen seemed happy, her expression was happy).

✅ Adverb:
- James speaks English “perfectly”. (verb + object + adverb)
- Jen looked at me “happily”. (Jen looked at me in a happy way)

We can also use an adverb before adjectives and other adverbs:

- adverb + adjective) extremely good
The restaurant is reasonably cheap and the food is extremely good.

- (adverb + adjective) terribly sorry
I’m terribly sorry that I’m late.

- (adverb + adjective) surprisingly easy
The test was surprisingly easy.

- adverb + adverb) incredibly quickly
Randy makes cookies incredibly quickly.

We can also use an adverb before a past participle:
One person was seriously injured in the car accident.
The party was very poorly organized.

Let’s practice!

Adverb or adjective? Choose whether the following sentences require an adverb or an adjective.

1. My friend is a _______________ driver. ( careful / carefully) 

2. He plays the piano very _______________. (good / well)

3. She works very _______________. (hard / hardly)

4. I read _______________ in order to enjoy every page. (slow / slowly)

5. Lindsay is an _______________ student. (intelligent / intelligently)

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