English Grammar, Third edition (2011)

Reference Section

Forming adverbs

R136 The uses of adverbs are explained in Chapters 2, 4, 6, and 10.

R137 Most adverbs are related to adjectives in form, and often in meaning. They are formed by adding ly to the adjective. For information on which adjectives you can add ly to, see paragraphs 6.17 to 6.27.

R138 Sometimes the formation is slightly different.

With adjectives ending in le, you replace the le with ly.

Note that whole has the related adverb wholly.

R139 With adjectives ending in y, you replace the y with ily.

Note that one-syllable adjectives ending in y usually have ly added, in the normal way.

Note that the adverb related to dry can be spelled drily or dryly.

R140 With adjectives ending in ic, you add ally.

Note that public has the related adverb publicly.

R141 With a few adjectives ending in e (not le), you replace the e with ly.

R142 With full and dull, you just add y.

R143 Note that ly is not generally added to adjectives ending in ed to form adverbs. However, here is a list of adverbs that are formed in this way:

absent-mindedly

admittedly

allegedly

assuredly

belatedly

blessedly

contentedly

crookedly

decidedly

dejectedly

delightedly

deservedly

determinedly

distractedly

doggedly

exaggeratedly

excitedly

fixedly

frenziedly

guardedly

half-heartedly

heatedly

hurriedly

light-heartedly

markedly

pointedly

repeatedly

reportedly

reputedly

resignedly

single-handedly

supposedly

undoubtedly

unexpectedly

unhurriedly

wholeheartedly

wickedly

R144 A few adverbs that end in ly are related to nouns.

These include some time adverbs.

Note the spelling of daily. These words are also themselves used as adjectives. Other adverbs related to nouns are shown below.

R145 A few adverbs ending in ly are not related to any adjective or noun.

accordingly

exceedingly

jokingly

longingly

manfully

presumably

R146 Here is a list of adverbs that have the same form as adjectives:

alike

all right

alone

clean

deep

direct

even

extra

far

fast

fine

first

free

freelance

full

full-time

further

hard

high

just

kindly

last

late

little

long

loud

low

next

non-stop

off-hand

only

outright

overall

part-time

past

pretty

quick

right

slow

solo

still

straight

tight

well

wide

wrong

Note that the adverb is sometimes not related in meaning to the adjective whose form it shares. Check the meanings in a Cobuild dictionary.

With some of these words, there are also related forms ending in ly.

cleanly

directly

deeply

evenly

finely

firstly

freely

fully

hardly

highly

justly

lastly

lately

loudly

quickly

rightly

slowly

tightly

widely

wrongly

Note that these ly forms sometimes have the same meaning as the other adverb form, and sometimes not.

The time adverbials ending in ly, which are mentioned in paragraph R144, also have the same form as adjectives.

R147 Note that ordinal numbers are used both as modifiers and as adverbs. They also have related adverbs ending in ly.

R148 Here is a list of adverbs that are not related to any adjective:

afresh

alas

alike

almost

aloud

also

altogether

anyhow

anyway

apart

besides

doubtless

either

enough

forthwith

furthermore

half

hence

hereby

however

indeed

instead

likewise

maybe

meanwhile

more

moreover

much

nevertheless

nonetheless

otherwise

perhaps

quite

rather

regardless

so

somehow

somewhat

therefore

thereupon

though

thus

together

too

very

whatsoever

R149 Time adverbials and many adverbs of place are also not related to adjectives. See Chapters 4 and 6 for lists of these adverbs.