Grammar
Adverbs: formation
1st Part
The formation of adverbs
2nd Part
The position of adverbs
Grammar in use
- Topic : The formation of adverbs
- Skills : Grammar
Use
What is an adverb?
She always recycles.
He is very interested in geography.
An adverb is a word that can modify:
– a verb: The meeting went well.
– an adjective: She is really cute.
– another adverb: He drives quite slowly.
– an entire sentence: Obviously, this is an important point.
Adverbs often come from adjectives and end in -y. Here are a few rules:
| Adjective Ending | Adverb Ending |
|---|---|
| most endings example: kind | -ly kindly |
| -y example: happy | -ily happily |
| -ic example: basic | -ically basically |
| able, ible examples: regrettable, terrible | -ably, -ibly regrettably, terribly |
| Some adverbs have no particular form. Examples: | Some adverbs are made up of one word and a prefix. Examples: | Some adverbs are made up of one word and a suffix. Examples: |
|---|---|---|
| often, always, never, very, perhaps, quite, now, then, well | Prefix ‘some’: somewhere, sometime… Prefix ‘any’: anyhow, anytime… Etc.: nowhere, ahead… | Suffix ‘wise’: clockwise, likewise, otherwise… Suffix ‘wards’: towards, forwards, backwards… |
| Language Tips: Adjective or Adverb? | Language Tips: ending in –ly or -lly? |
| Not all words ending in –ly are adverbs. Examples: ’lovely’ and ‘friendly’ are only adjectives. | How do I know when an adverb has 1 ‘l’ or 2? To form most adverbs, you add -ly to the adjective. So if the adjective endswith an ‘l’, you add a second ‘l’. Examples: final →finally large →largely |
| Some words can be adjectives sometimes and adverbs other times. Examples: ‘early’ is an adjective in: This year, we had an early spring. ‘early’ is an adverb in: I woke up early this morning. The same applies to: late, daily, weekly, easy, hard, fast, ill, kindly… | Adverbs ending in -ically always have 2 ‘l’. Examples: basically logically |
Adverbs in the Comparative and Superlative
The comparative and the superlative of adverbs are formed like the comparative and the superlative of adjectives.
Examples:
adverb → comparative → superlative
early → earlier → the earliest
quickly → more → quickly → the most quickly
There are also irregular forms.
Examples:
adverb → comparativ → superlative
well → better → the best
little → less/lesser → the least
much → more → the most