Form and Comparison of Adverbs

Adverbs are used to express how something is done

(adjectives express how someone or something is).

Example: The dog sleeps quietly. The dog is absolutely quiet.

Form

In general: adjective + - ly

adjective adverb

slow slowly

Exceptions in spelling

exception example

silent e is dropped in true, due, whole true → truly

y becomes i happy → happily

le after a consonant is dropped sensible → sensibly

after ll only add y full → fully

Adjectives ending in -ic: adjective + -ally

(exception: public-publicly)

adjective adverb

fantastic fantastically

Adjectives ending in -ly: use ‘in a … way / manner’

or another adverb with similar meaning

adjective adverb

friendly in a friendly way

in a friendly manner

likely probably

adjective adverb (meaning) adverb (meaning)

good well

difficult with difficulty

public publicly

deep deep (place) deeply (feeling)

direct direct directly (=soon)

hard hard hardly (=seldom)

high high (place) highly (figurative)

late late lately (=recently)

most most mostly (=usually)

near near nearly (=almost)

pretty pretty (=rather) prettily

short short shortly (=soon)

The following adjectives

are also used as adverbs

daily, enough, early, far, fast, hourly, little, long, low, monthly,

much, straight, weekly, yearly, …

Exceptions

Adjective or Adverb

•Adjectives are used to modify nouns: The dog is loud.

•Adverbs are used to modify verbs, adjectives or other

adverbs: The dog barks loudly.

Linking Verbs

Some verbs can only be used with adjectives, others might

change their meaning when used with an adverb.

verb used with an adjective used with an adverb

look look good (= appearance) look well (= healthy)

feel feel good (= state of health/mind) feel well (= have a good sense of touch)

smell smell good (= odour) smell well (= have a good sense of smell)

taste taste good (= preference) taste well (= have a good sense of taste)

The following verbs can only be used with adjectives:

•be

•become

•get

•grow

•keep

•remain

•seem

•sound

•stay

•turn

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is a group of waterfalls on the

border between the United States and Canada.

The Falls are a favorite tourist attraction. The

Niagara River drops here and although the Falls

are not deep, they are very wide and the amount

of water is enormous. So it is very noisy near the

Falls. That's why the Iroquois tribe, who used to

live here, called the falls Niagara (meaning

“thunder of waters”).

Grammar exercise on the text

Adjective or Adverb

•An adjective describes a noun.

•An adverb describes a verb, adjective or another adverb

Exercise

Choose the correct form (adjective or adverb)

1.Niagara Falls form a (Natural/Naturally)

border between the United States and Canada

2.Tourists visit this place (Frecuent/Frecuently)

3.The Falls are very (Noisy/Noisily)

4.So you must speak (Loud/Loudly) or nobody can

5.Many years ago, the Iroquois tribe lived here

(Paceful/Pacefully)

understand you

Write down the correct form of the word in brackets

(adjective or adverb)

Use the following adjectives: wonderful, careful,

angry, easy, excellent, good, awful, sad.

•Tom is slow. He works slowly .

•Sue is a _______ girl.

She climbed up the ladder _______ .

•The dog is _______ . It barks _______ .

•He acted _______ . He's an _______ actor.

•They learn English _______ .

They think English is an _______ language.

•Max is a _______ singer. He sings _______ .

•It's _______ . cold today. The cold wind is _______ .

•The little boy looked _______ .

I went over to comfort him and he looked at me _______

Exercise on comparison of Adverbs

Fill in the correct adverb form (comparative or superlative) of

the adjectives in brackets.

1.I speak English (fluent) more fluently now than last year.

2.She greeted me (polite) _____________ of all.

3.She smiled (happy) _____________ than before.

4.This girl dances (graceful) _____________ of all.

5.Could you write (clear) _____________ ?

6.Planes can fly (high) _____________ than birds.

7.He had an accident last year. Now, he drives (careful)

_____________ than before.

8.Jim can run (fast) _____________ than John.

9.Our team played (bad) _____________ of all.

10.He worked (hard) _____________ than ever before.

Adjective Adverb

boring

happy

exact

busy

quiet

Exercise on the form of adverbs

Fill in the correct adverb

Find the adjective in the first sentence and fill the gap with the

adverb.

1.Joanne is happy. She smiles happily

2.The boy is loud. He shouts ________

3.Her English is fluent. She speaks English ________

4.Our mum was angry. She spoke to us ________

5.My neighbour is a careless driver. He drives ________

6.The painter is awful. He paints ________

7.Jim is a wonderful piano player.

He plays the piano ________

8.This girl is very quiet.

She often sneaks out of the house ________

9.She is a good dancer. She dances really ________

10.This exercise is simple.

You ________ have to put one word in each space.