Adverbs: forms and irregular adverbs

Adjective or adverb?

An adjective describes a person or thing: a quiet room. An adverb of manner tells you how an action happens: someone speaks quietly. This page starts with manner and then compares words with similar forms but different meanings.

• The child whispered softly.

• Please fold the letter neatly.

The object is the person or thing affected by the action. Put a manner adverb after it, not between the verb and its object, in this end-position pattern. Other positions are possible; see Adverb position.

After a verb such as be, seem, look, feel, smell or taste, use an adjective when you describe the subject. These are linking uses: the verb links the subject to its description. The same verb can have an action use with an adverb.

• The soup smells wonderful. Wonderful describes the soup.
• The dog smelled the bag carefully. Carefully describes how it checked the bag.

Add -ly

For a regular adverb, add -ly to the adjective. Keep the adjective's letters unless a spelling pattern below changes them. Do not add -ly to every adjective without checking the word.

An adjective ending in one l keeps that l and adds -ly, so careful becomes carefully and final becomes finally. You get two l letters. If the adjective already ends in -ll, add only -y: full becomes fully, not fullly.

An -ly ending is a clue, not a definition. Quietly tells you how an action happens, but finally tells you about its place in a sequence. Other adverbs, such as soon, here and very, do not come from an adjective plus -ly. See Adverbs by meaning: time, place, manner, degree and comment for their jobs.

Spelling changes and exceptions

These patterns help you spell the adverb. The examples matter: a short ending rule is not a rule for every word with those letters.

Lingolia teaches publicly as the -ic exception. Collins also records publically as a disputed variant, with different labels across its dictionaries. Use publicly here, but do not call the variant an impossible word.

The y rule is not universal. Shy becomes shyly and sly becomes slyly. Do not change every final y to i. Learn those spellings with the words.

• The assistant replied politely.
• He smiled shyly at the camera.
• The machine stops automatically at midnight.

A correct spelling does not guarantee the meaning you want. Duly and wholly have their own uses; use a dictionary for the full entry rather than treating them as interchangeable with any phrase containing due or whole.

Good and well

Good is the adjective. Well is the adverb when you mean that someone does an action successfully or skilfully.

The verb's job matters, not just the word before the gap. After tastes in a description, use good: the food tastes good. After cooks to describe the action, use well: he cooks well.

• The new sandwich tastes good.
• Our neighbour cooks well.

Well can also be an adjective meaning healthy. I feel well says that you are not ill; it is not an error just because well follows feel. Good and well have other meanings too, so do not make a rule that well is always an adverb.

• My aunt is well again after her operation.

Adverbs that keep the adjective's form

Some adverbs do not add -ly. Their spelling is the same as the adjective's. The sentence tells you the job.

Early and daily already end in -ly, but can be adjectives or adverbs. An ending alone cannot tell you which one you have. Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly can describe how often something happens, not how it is done.

Use fast, not fastly. Quickly is the usual adverb from quick. You may also meet forms without -ly in particular expressions or varieties. Cambridge records slow as an adverb, with He drives too slow marked mainly US. Do not cross out every adjective-shaped word after a verb. Check the exact word and use.

British Council groups this section as intermediate teaching, which is a broader kind of label.

Hard is not hardly

Hard can mean with a lot of effort. Hardly means almost not or only just. Adding -ly changes the meaning; it does not make a regular manner adverb from hard.

• The team trained hard for the final. They made a lot of effort.
• I could hardly lift the suitcase. I could lift it only with great difficulty.

Hardly already gives an almost-negative meaning. For that meaning, say I can hardly hear you, not I can't hardly hear you in standard English. See Negatives: not, n't and do-support for the wider negative pattern.

The two words can occur together because they do different jobs.

• He hardly worked today, but yesterday he worked hard. Today he did very little work; yesterday he made a lot of effort.

Late is not lately

Late can mean after the expected time. Lately means recently. Both are adverbs, but they answer different questions.

• The coach arrived twenty minutes late. It did not arrive on time.
• We have been eating at home lately. This is our recent habit.

Cambridge uses lately for states or repeated events, mostly with the present perfect. Do not use it for a single recent past event: use recently instead. Lately is not an adjective for a noun either: a late train, not a lately train.

• I have felt tired lately. A recent state.
• I found my old passport recently. One event in the recent past.

Near/nearly and high/highly

Near can refer to being close in distance. Nearly means almost, not physically close. Near also works as a preposition before a noun, so not every near phrase is an adverb.

• Don't stand so near. Do not stand so close.
• We have nearly finished the puzzle. We have almost finished it.

High can describe height as an adjective or as an adverb. Highly often means very or to a large degree, rather than at a great height. Learn the words they go with, such as highly skilled or highly paid.

• The kite flew high above the field.
• The repair needs a highly skilled worker. A worker with a high level of skill.

Other senses and fixed phrases need their own dictionary checks.

Adjectives ending in -ly

Friendly, lovely, lonely, lively and ugly can be adjectives. Do not assume that the final -ly makes them adverbs.

• Our host was friendly.

To describe an action with friendly or silly, a clear option is in a friendly way or in a silly way. British Council teaches these phrases. They let you express the meaning without building an unfamiliar longer word.

• The receptionist explained it in a friendly way.
• The children were behaving in a silly way.

Do not turn that advice into a claim that no longer form exists. Cambridge's grammar page advises against sillily, but its dictionary has a sillily entry. Its friendlily entry is marked not standard. Use the clear phrase here; the sources do not justify banning every possible -lily form.

You can also choose another word when it expresses the meaning, such as warmly for a welcome. It is a choice of meaning, not a mechanical spelling replacement.

What comes next

Adverb position explains where adverbs go and how position can change meaning. Adverbs by meaning: time, place, manner, degree and comment covers time, place, frequency, degree and comments on a whole sentence. Comparatives covers comparative forms; Gradable and non-gradable adjectives: choosing degree words develops degree words. Negatives: not, n't and do-support explains negative-meaning words such as hardly. Not every adverb ends in -ly.