Adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives modify nouns.

A beautiful day

An interesting idea

Adverbs modify verbs by telling us how we do something.

She works quietly. They write clearly.

Many adverbs are formed by adding ly to the adjective.

easy - easily

careful carefully

nice - nicely

A few words, like fast, hard, late and low, take the
same form as both adjectives and adverbs.

It was a late movie.

She had a hard time.

I stayed out late.

Forming adverbs from adjectives

Many adverbs are formed by simply
adding ly to an adjective:
Adjective
Adverb
beautiful
beautifully
careless
carelessly
cautious
cautiously
courteous
courteously
joyous
joyously
quick
quickly

Forming adverbs from adjectives

If an adjective ends in y if often
changed to i before the ly is added:
Adjective
Adverb
angry
angrily
easy
easily
guilty
guiltily
happy
happily
hasty
hastily
shabby
shabbily

Forming adverbs from adjectives

If an adjective ends in le, the le is

dropped before ly is added:
Adjective
Adverb
capable
capably
comfortable
comfortably
miserable
miserably
simple
simply

Rules
In general: adjective + -ly
adjective
example
slow
slowly
Exceptions in spelling
exception
example
Silent e is dropped in true, due, whole
true truly
happy happily
y becomes i
le after a consonant is dropped

sensible sensibly

After ll only add y

full fully

Rules
Adjectives ending in ic: adjective + -ally
(exception: public- publicy)
adjective
adverb
fantastic
fantastically
Adjectives ending in ly: use in a way / manner
or another adverb with similar meaning

adjective
friendly

adverb
in a friendly way

likely

in a friendly manner
probably

Exceptions
Adjective
good

Adverb
(meaning)
well

Adverb
(meaning)

difficult

with difficulty

public

publicy

deep

deep (place)

deeply (feeling)

direct

direct

directly (=soon)

hard

hard

hardly (=seldom)

high

high (place)

highly (figurative)

late

late

lately (=recently)

most

most

mostly (=usually)

near

near

nearly (=almost)

pretty

pretty (=rather)

prettily

short

short

shortly (=soon)

The following adjectives

are also used as adverbs
(without moficication)

daily, enough, nearly, far, fast, hourly,

little, long, low, monthly, much, straight,
weekly, yearly

ACTIVITY I
Read the sentences carefully and apply the rules.
1. Paula is a patient teacher. She listens ____.
2. Santa Claus is merry. He laughs______.
3. Lucas is rapid. He answered the test _____.
4. Ben is organized and quick. He ____ finished the task.
5. Gladys has clear pronunciation. She talks _____.
6. The Senator is well- liked. People talk of him. ( high)
7. Barbara dances____. ( graceful).
8. My boss greeted the visitors _____. (polite)
9. This has to be done ___ ( regular).
10. She _______ showed us her trophy. ( happy).
11. He is a good coordinator. He does it _______.
12. The child ____ took the toys. ( relentless)
13. The organization ___ prepared its activity. ( excited)
14. The members ____ welcomed the tourists. ( kindly)
15. The Boy Scouts ____ completed the kite. (enthusiastic).

ACTIVITY II
Write the correct form in the blank.
1. Jack plays the piano ________. (beautiful)
2. Mrs. Cordero speaks very ____. (soft)
3. Mara won the race _____. ( easy)
4. I see him at the Casino ____. (frequent)
5. 5. She acted ____. ( greedy)
6. That cave is dangerous. Walk ____ (cautious).
7. He stole the cookies. He acted____ (guilty).
8. She was late. She drove ____ ( hasty).
9. They were poor. They dressed ___ (shabby).
10. Someone ____ killed the dog. ( miserable)

ACTIVITY III
I.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Read the sentences and complete them:

Andrea answered the questions_____.(honest)
John walked to the store very ___. ( slow)
_______, my sister ruined my dress. (thoughtless)
___ the rangers approached the bear. (cautious)
Paul ___ answered the interview. ( foolish)
The new secretary works ___. (careless)
Joe ____ gave a donation. ( generous)
The feverish man ____ watched his girlfriend.
( jealous)
Mary apologized ____. ( sincere)
The dog ____ hid the bone. ( playful)

Activity IV. Read the corresponding

words and change them to adverbs
taking the rules into consideration.
1. brave
2. competent
3. good
4. bitter
5. angry
6. easy
7. happy
8. simple
9. capable
10. comfortable
11. hasty
12. nice
13. clean
14. dirty
15. rapid

CHALLENGE
I.

Demonstrate that you can change

these adjectives to adverbs.
Remember the rules.
1. angry
2. happy
3. heavy
4. noisy
5. steady
6. clumsy
7. cheek

Part II. Lets continue with the

challenge. Read and choose the
best alternative.
1. If you always drive ___ you are sure to have
an accident.
a. recklessly b. reckless
2. Pablo ate his dinner ___.
a. quick b. quickly
3. He s an awful driver. He never stops ______.
a. smoothly b. smooth
4. This case s evidence has been___affected.
a. serious b. seriously
5. Mr. Mom and Mrs. Mom squealed at each
other ___.
a. furious b. furiously

Activity

Activity 1

Activity 1

Activity 2

1.

patiently

11. well

1.

beautifully

2.

merrily

12. relentlessly

2.

softly

3.

rapidly

13. exitedly

3.

easily

4.

quickly

14. kindly

4.

frequently

5.

clearly

5.

greedily

6.

highly

15. enthusiastic
ally

6.

cautiously

7.

gracefully

7.

guiltily

8.

politely

8.

hastily

9.

regularly

9.

stabbily

10. happily

10. misarebly

Activity
Activity 3

Activity 4

1.

honestly

1.

bravely

2.

slowly

2.

competently

3.

thoughtlessly 3.

well

4.

cautiously

4.

bitterly

5.

foolishly

5.

angrily

6.

carelessly

6.

easily

7.

generously

7.

happily

8.

jealously

8.

simply

9.

sincerely

9.

capably

10. playfully

10. comfortably

Challenge
Part I
1. angrily
2. happily
3. heavily
4. noisily
5. steadlily
6. clumsily
7. checkily

Part II
1. a
2. b
3. a
4. b
5. b