Adverbs of Manner
A1 · BeginnerAdverbsAdverbs of manner say HOW something happens — most are formed by adding -ly to an adjective, but a few common ones break the pattern.
What you'll learn
- Most adverbs of manner: adjective + -ly (quick → quickly, careful → carefully)
- Spelling changes: happy → happily, easy → easily; terrible → terribly
- Irregular forms: good → well, fast → fast, hard → hard
- False friends: hard (with effort) vs hardly (almost not at all)
Forming adverbs of manner
An adverb of manner describes HOW an action happens, and usually comes right after the verb (or the verb + object): She sings beautifully. Most are formed by adding -ly to the adjective: quick → quickly, careful → carefully, slow → slowly.
Spelling changes with -ly
Adjectives ending in a consonant + y change y to i before adding -ly: happy → happily, easy → easily, angry → angrily.
Adjectives ending in -le drop the e: terrible → terribly, simple → simply, gentle → gently.
Adjectives ending in -ic usually add -ally: basic → basically, tragic → tragically.
Irregular adverbs: well, fast, hard
Good is irregular: its adverb is well, not 'goodly' — 'She speaks English well', not 'She speaks English good'.
Some adjectives keep the same form as adverbs: fast → fast (not 'fastly'), hard → hard (not 'hardly', which is a different word entirely — see below).
hard vs. hardly — a false friend
Hard as an adverb means 'with a lot of effort or force': He hit the ball hard. She studies hard.
Hardly is a completely different word — it means 'almost not at all', and it's a frequency-style adverb, not the -ly form of hard: I hardly know him (= I know him very little).
Real English
Watch out
Good is an adjective; its adverb form is well, not 'goodly'.
Fast doesn't change form — it's the same word as adjective and adverb.
Hard (with effort) and hardly (almost not at all) look related but mean opposite things — mixing them up reverses your meaning.
Real life — Giving feedback after a presentation
"How did it go?"
"Honestly, I think it went really well. You explained the numbers clearly."
"Thanks — I was nervous, so I spoke pretty fast at the start."
"Maybe a little, but you handled the questions calmly, so it worked out fine."
Practice
Exercise 1 · Choose the correct form
She sings ___.
Exercise 2 · Choose the correct form
He drives very ___.
Exercise 3 · Choose the correct form
Which is the correct adverb form of 'good'?
Exercise 4 · Choose the correct form
The train arrived ___.
Exercise 5 · Choose the correct form
Which is the correct adverb form of 'happy'?
Exercise 6 · Fix the mistake
Fix the mistake:
Exercise 7 · Choose the correct meaning
I hardly know him. What does 'hardly' mean here?
Exercise 8 · Complete the sentence
Complete: He answered every question ___. (correct → adjective + adverb suffix)
Exercise 9 · Complete the sentence
Complete: The adjective 'easy' becomes the adverb ___.
Exercise 10 · Build the sentence
Exercise 11 · Choose the correct sentence
Which is correct?
Quick challenge
Five quick questions to check what stuck.
Question 1 / 5
Score: 0/0
They finished the race ___.
You learned
- Most adverbs of manner add -ly to the adjective: quick → quickly.
- Spelling changes: happy → happily, terrible → terribly.
- Irregular forms: good → well, fast → fast, hard → hard.
- Hard (with effort) and hardly (almost not at all) are different words, not the same word in two forms.
Related grammar lessons
Adverbs of Frequency
Learn always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely and never, and the one placement rule that decides where they go in a sentence.
Types of Adverbs
Get an overview of the five main types of adverbs — manner, place, time, frequency and degree — and the question each one answers.
Adverb Position
Learn the three main adverb positions in English — front, mid, and end — and the manner-place-time order for stacking adverbials at the end of a sentence.
Comparative and Superlative Adverbs
Learn how to compare actions with adverbs — more/most for most -ly adverbs, -er/-est for a few short ones, and irregular forms like better and worst.