Forming Adverbs – List

  • Forming Regular Adverbs: Most adverbs are formed by adding "-ly" to the end of an adjective (quick becomes quickly).
  • Next, we have adjectives that end with '-y'. We replace the '-y' with '-ily'. For example: happy to happily.
  • Adjectives that end with '-able'/'-ible': replace '-ble' with '-bly'. For example, horrible becomes horribly.
  • Adjectives ending with '-ic': add '-ally'. Like, dramatic to dramatically.
  • Adjectives that end in '-le' after a consonant: replace '-le' with '-ly'. Gentle converts to gently.
  • If the adjective ends with ‘-ue’, you should remove the ‘e’ and add ‘-ly’. For example: due – duly.
  • If the adjective ends with ‘-ge’ or ‘-ce’, you just add ‘-ly’. For example: huge – hugely.
  • Adjectives ending in '-ll': just add '-y'. Full to fully.
  • If an adjective ends in ‘-ic’, we add ‘-ally’. Not ‘-icly’. For example: basic – basically.
  • We do not change the spelling of adjectives ending in ‘-ly’ when we make adverbs. Just add ‘-ly’. For example: friendly – friendly.
  • There are adjectives like "whole" that end in '-e' get 'wholly', not 'wholely'!
  • Some words add more than just "-ly", like "true" which becomes "truly".
  • Additionally, some words change completely when becoming adverbs, like "good" which becomes "well".
  • Adjectives that end in '-y': replace the '-y' with '-ily'. For example: easy to easily.
  • Adjectives that already end in "-ly", like "lovely", do not change into "lovelyly". Instead, we use phrases such as "in a lovely way".
  • Adjectives ending with '-ic': add '-ally'. So, basic becomes basically.
  • Adjectives ending with '-ble': replace '-ble' with '-bly'. For instance: probable becomes probably.
  • Adjectives ending with '-e': add '-ly'. For example: extreme becomes extremely.
  • Adjectives ending with '-ue': replace '-ue' with '-uly'. For instance: true becomes truly.
  • The word "public" changes to "publicly" not "publically".
  • The word "specific" changes to specifically.
  • For the word “whole”, it turns into “wholly”, not “wholely”.
  • Some adverbs keep the same form as the adjectives. These are called flat adverbs, e.g., fast, hard, late, high.
  • The adjective "late" changes to "lately" when meaning 'recently', but it remains "late" when meaning 'not early'.
  • 'Hard' means 'with a lot of effort' when the adverb is the same as the adjective. But when we talk about difficulty, we say 'hardly'.
  • 'Near' is an adjective, but also an adverb that means 'almost' or 'nearly'.
  • The word 'much' is also an adverb, meaning 'very' or 'a lot'.
  • The word 'far' is an adverb meaning 'a long distance away'.
  • The word 'well' is an adverb that means 'in a good way'.
  • The word 'quick' is an adjective, but can also be an adverb, as in 'come quick'.
  • Words like 'daily', 'weekly', 'monthly', 'yearly' are adjectives but also adverbs.
  • If the adjective ends in ‘-ic’, we add ‘-ally’ to form an adverb: Example: ‘dramatic’ becomes ‘dramatically’.
  • The word "right" is an adverb meaning "justly, fairly".
  • The words "enough" and "far" are always adverbs.
  • The words 'very' and 'too' can act as adverbs.
  • The word "even" is an adverb meaning 'still, yet, besides'.
  • In the case of "late", "early", we do not add -ly to form an adverb.
  • The word "high" is an adverb meaning 'greatly'.
  • The word "low" is an adverb meaning 'not high'.
  • The word "just" is an adverb meaning 'quite, very'.
  • Some irregularly formed adverbs are "always", "never", "often", "seldom", "sometimes", "usually".
  • "Ever", "long", "still", "yet" are examples of irregularly formed adverbs.
  • The word "direct" can be an adverb meaning 'in a straight line'.
  • The word "fast" is an adverb meaning 'quickly'.
  • The word "straight" is an adverb meaning 'in a straight line'.

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