Adverbs

Concept: Words Ending with 'ly'

Definition

• Adverbs are words added to give more information on the verb in a sentence.
• Words ending with the suffix ‘ly’ are adverbs of manner,which gives more information on the action performed.
• They usually are placed after the main verb or the object of a sentence.
• The easy way to transform an adjective into an adverb is by ending a word with 'ly'.

How to Form a Word with 'ly'?

Let us have a look at some of the common words that end with‘-ly’.

Usage of words ending with ‘-ly’ in a sentence

Adverbs usually give more information about the verb in the sentence. These words can be found at the end of a sentence. There are times adverbs or ‘ly’ words can also be seen before a verb.

Examples:

1. He shouted loudly.

2. He listened silently.

3. He bravely fought the war.
4. The situation changed overnight rapidly.
5. They both married eventually.

Common Mistakes

1. Do not position the adverbs of manner within a sentence wrongly. The sentence will lose grammatical sense. They can’t be placed between a verb and its direct object.

Examples:

He ate quickly his breakfast.

He quickly ate his breakfast.

He ate his breakfast quickly.

They missed unfortunately the flight.

They unfortunately missed the flight.

They missed the flight, unfortunately.

2. If there’s a preposition before the verb’s object, positionthe adverb of manner either before the preposition or after the object.

Examples:

It was kept harshly on the floor.

It was kept on the floor harshly.

3. Adverb of manner should be placed immediately after the verbs that have no object.

Examples:

1. They waited patiently until the evening.

2. He walked swiftly to reach on time.

Exceptions

1. When the adjective ends in ‘ic’, the syllable ‘al’ is generally added before the suffix ending in 'ly'.

Examples:

1. drastic – drastically
2. specific – specifically
3. scientific – scientifically
4. dramatic – dramatically
2. When the adjective ends in ‘le’followed by a consonant, the letter ‘e’ changes to ‘y’.

   Examples:

   1. simple – simply
   2. gentle – gently
   3. terrible – terribly
3. When the adjective ends in ‘le’ followed by a vowel, add ly to the adjective.

Example:

sole - solely

4. For adjective that ends in ‘ll’, only the letter ‘y’is added.

Example:

full – fully

5. For adjectives that end with the letter‘ue’, just replace ‘e’ with –ly and omitted.

Example:

true – truly

6. When the adjective ends in ‘y’ followed by a consonant, the ‘y’ is changed to ‘i’ before placing the suffix –ly.

Examples:

1. happy – happily
2. hungry – hungrily
3. easy – easily
7. There are certain words which end in ‘ly’that are mostly placed directly after the verb. They are bad, well, fast and hard.

Examples:

1. He did well in his exams.
2. She slipped, and it hurt badly.
3. He drove fast.