Formation of adverbs

1.The majority of adverbs is formed by the addition of the suffix –ly to an adjective:

e.g. nice – nicely

clever – cleverly

In some cases the addition of –ly results in the following changes:

a)When the adjective ends in –y, there is a change to –i-:

e.g. happy – happily

day – daily

b)When the adjective ends in –e, the final –e is often dropped:

e.g. whole – wholly

true – truly

! but: sole – solely

nice – nicely

When the adjective ends in –ic, -ally is added:

e.g. basic –basically

scientific – scientifically

! The adverb of good is well.

1. When the adjective already ends in –ly (friendly, lovely, lonely, likely, ugly, deadly, cowardly, silly), the adverb is formed by an adverb phrase:

e.g. cowardly – in a cowardly manner

friendly – in a friendly way

2. Many words beginning with a– form adverbs:

e.g. abroad, aboard, etc.

They should be distinguished from adjectives beginning with a-:

e.g. afraid, awake, etc.

This may be checked by the following test:

If an a- word is acceptable after verb of motion, it is an adverb:

e.g. He went abroad. (aboard)

However, if an a- word cannot occur after such verbs, it is an adjective:

e.g. We can’t say * He went afraid, (awake).

3.Some adverbs have the same form as adjectives. (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, early, fast, etc.)

A daily paper is published daily

A fast worker works fast.