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.