Formation of Adverbs
Adverbs made from Adjectives
Concept 1
Adverbs of Manner are mostly formed from adjectives by adding ly (a corruption of like).
E.g. clever, cleverly; wise, wisely; kind, kindly; foolish, foolishly; quick, quickly; beautiful, beautifully.
He ruled wisely for many years. (wisely - like a wise man)
Concept 2
When an adjective ends in y preceded by a consonant, we change y into i and add ly.
E.g. happy, happily; ready, readily; heavy, heavily.
Concept 3
When an adjective ends in le, we simply change e into y.
E.g. single, singly; double, doubly.
Concept 4
When an adjective already ends in -ly (e.g. cowardly, friendly, kindly, lively, lonely) we don’t add -ly to it to make an adverb. Instead we can use a prepositional phrase with fashion, manner, or way.
She looked at me in a friendly manner/way.
Concept 5
Most participle adjectives ending in -ed (past participles) don’t have an adverb form and we can use a similar prepositional phrase:
Students rose to greet the teacher in a subdued manner.
However, some participle adjectives ending in -ed (past participles) do have an adverb form with -ly:
E.g. allegedly, belatedly, contentedly, dejectedly, deservedly, excitedly, hurriedly, markedly, pointedly, repeatedly, reportedly, reputedly, supposedly, unexpectedly, wholeheartedly, wickedly.
They hurriedly left the room.
Adverbs made from Pronouns
Many adverbs are derived from pronouns the (= that), he, who.
Many of the above adverbs are compounded with prepositions.
E.g. thereby, therefrom, therein, thereof, thereon, thereto, there with;
hereafter, hereby, herein, hereupon, herewith;
wherefore, wherein, whereon, whereof;
hitherto;
thenceforth, thenceforward;
henceforth, henceforward.
Adverbs made from other Adverbs
There are some adverbs that are compounds of a preposition and an adverb.
E.g. within, without, before, beneath.
Adverbs made from Nouns
Concept 1
Some Adverbs are made up of a noun and a qualifying adjective.
E.g. sometimes, meantime, meanwhile, yesterday, midway, otherwise.
Concept 2
Some adverbs are compounds of on (weakened to a) and a noun.
E.g. afoot (= on foot), abed, asleep, ahead, aboard, away.
Similarly, some other prepositions are also compounded with nouns to form adverbs.
E.g. besides, to-day, to-morrow; overboard.
Two forms of Adverbs
Some adverbs have two forms:
- one ending in -ly and
- the other not ending in -ly (which is the same as the Adjective).
Both forms with same meaning
Both the forms of some of these adverbs have the same meaning (although the form ending in -ly is more usual in a formal style)
E.g. quick(ly), cheap(ly), clean(ly), clear(ly), fine(ly), slow(ly), thin(ly).
Come to the hospital as quick(ly) as you can.
Both forms with different meanings
In some cases there is a difference in the meaning of the adverb with and without –ly.
Compare:
I arrived late for the interview.
I haven’t seen you play football lately. (lately means recently)
Adverbs that go together
Two Adverbs sometimes go together, joined by the Conjunction ‘and’.
again and again (= more than once, repeatedly)
now and then (= from time to time, occasionally)
out and out (= decidedly, beyond all comparison)
to and fro (= backwards and forwards, up and down).
Extra Books and Tools
If you prefer to learn via books, or want some good English Grammar books for reference purposes, you may read this article which enlists some of the books recommended by us.