5

The Adverbs

• a word which gives more information about time, place and manner

• normally describes verbs, other adverbs or whole sentences

Kinds of adverbs

Manner: (how) bravely, fast, happily, hard, quickly, well Place: (where) by, down, here, near, there, up Time: now, soon, still, then, today, yet Frequency ('how often'): always, never, occasionally, often, twice Sentence (It says something about the situation described in the sentence.): certainly, definitely, luckily, surely Degree (makes the meaning weaker or stronger.): hardly, rather, quite, too, very Interrogative: when? where? why? Relative: when, where, why

Form and use

The formation of adverbs with ly

A. Many adverbs of manner and some adverbs of degree are formed by adding ly to the corresponding adjectives: final- finally, immediate- immediately, slow- slowly

Spelling notes

1. a final y changes to i: happy- happily, easy - easily

2. a final e is retained before ly: extreme-extremely. Exceptions: true, due, whole become truly, duly, wholly.

3. adjectives ending in a consonant + le drop the e and add y: gentle- gently, simple- simply (comfortably, probably, reasonably, sensibly, terribly, etc.)

4. ic- ically, e.g. dramatic - dramatically (automatically, scientifically, etc. Exception: publicly)

Note good/well.

Good is an adjective. The adverb is well. The opposites are bad and badly.

• Your English is good. But You speak English well.

• Mary is a good pianist. But Mary plays the piano well.

• I had a bad night. But I slept badly last night.

We use well (not “good) with past participles (dressed/known etc)

e.g. Well-dressed, well-known, well-paid, well-educated

But well is also an adjective with the meaning ‘in good health’

‘How are you today?’ ‘I’m very well, thanks’ (not ‘I’m very good’)

Good and well

I. Complete the conversation. Put in good, well (x2), bad, badly and ill.

Rachel: How did you and Daniel get on in your tennis match?

Matthew: We lost. I'm afraid we didn't play very (►) well. Daniel made some (1)………………..mistakes.

It wasn't a very (2)……………………..day for us. We played really (3)………………………….

Andrew: I heard Daniel's in bed at the moment because he isn't very (4)……………………… Matthew: Yes, I'm afraid he's been (5)…………............................ for several days, but he's better now.