Adverbs of Manner Adverbs of Manner Introduction Adverbs describe the
time when something happens, the
place where something happens or
how something happens. They tell us more about
verbs. We can
ask these questions:
Question Answer Type
When? | yesterday, today, now, later... | adverbs of time |
Where? | here, there, everywhere, home, away, ... | adverbs of place |
How? | slowly, happily, well... | adverbs of manner |
Adverbs of Manner Let's work on adverbs of
manner!
Read this example:
Tom
drove carefully along the narrow
road.
How did Tom drive?
Carefully! In what way did Tom drive?
Carefully! Compare:
Tom is a
careful driver.
Here, careful is an
adjective and gives more
information about
what kind of driver Tom is.
Adjectives usually follow the verb “to be” and come before a noun.
How can we make adverbs?
Usually, we make adverbs by
adding “ly” to the end
of an adjective.
Examples:
nice -> nicely
clear -> clearly
Sometimes, we must change the “y” at the end of the adjective and
add “ily” to make the adverb.
Examples:
heavy -> heavily
lazy -> lazily
Be careful! Some
adjectives end in
“ly” and are NOT adverbs.
Examples:
She is a lovely woman.
They are very friendly, aren't they?
Now we know how to use adverbs of manner to describe more about the
way we do things. Let's look at three more examples. Can
you find the
adverbs? My mother sings beautifully, but my father sings very badly.
When I was a child, I couldn't swim very quickly, but now I can!
They don't like the teacher because she speaks so loudly.
Be careful! There are some very common exceptions!!
“Good” is an adjective.
Your pronunciation is very
good. “Well” is an adverb.
You speak very
well.
He can't play tennis
well. The words “fast,” “late,” and “hard” are adjectives
and adverbs.
Adjective Adverb
Mary was a fast runner in high school. | Mary could run very fast. (not fastly) |
The bus was late. | The bus arrived late today. (not lately*) |
John is a hard worker. | John works hard every day. (not hardly**) |
*Lately is an adverb, but it means “recently”.
I have been feeling tired lately.
**Hardly is an adverb, but it means “almost not at
all.”
She hardly ate anything today.
Now, we need to know how to
compare how things are done.
You can follow the same rules that we use with adjectives!
Example:
Ann speaks French fluently. Jack can't speak French
fluently.
Ann speaks French
more fluently
than Jack,
OR
Jack speaks French
less fluently
than Ann,
OR
Jack doesn't speak French
as fluently
as Ann.
Ann speaks French
the most fluently
in the whole office.
This is the “superlative”. It compares three or more people/things.
Example:
Bob studies seriously.
Dan doesn't study seriously.
Bob studies
more seriously
than Dan,
or...
Dan studies
less seriously
than Bob,
or...
Dan doesn't study
as seriously
as Bob.
Bob studies
the most seriously of
all the students in his class.
Do you remember those
exceptions above?
(fast/late/hard/well)
Let's see how to
compare ideas with these!
Examples:
Margaret runs
faster than me, but Bob runs
the fastest on our team.
Joe arrives home
later than his children. His
wife arrives home
the latest in the family.
Sally works much
harder than her sister in the
family business, but her brother works
the hardest.
My mother sings
better than my father. In fact,
my mother sings
the best in our whole family!