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!

When you are sure that you understand the lesson, you can continue with the exercises.

Adverbs of Manner 1

Choose the best answer for each sentence.

Click on the box beside the best answer. 1 / 12

1. Do you think you speak English ____________? Yes, of course!
   1.   well
   2.   good
   3.   goodly
2. The girls had to finish their work ____________ because the teacher told them to stop.
   1.   quickly
   2.   quick
3. My teacher said that Warren works ____________ in our class.
   1.   the hardest
   2.   hardly
   3.   harder than
4. Megan is a very ____________ athlete. She loves sports.
   1.   serious
   2.   seriously
5. Barbara swims ____________ than Anna because she has stronger arms.
   1.   fastlier
   2.   fast
   3.   faster
6. The group found their hotel ____________ after they bought the map of the city.
   1.   easy
   2.   easily
   3.   easly
7. Angelina is a ____________ student. She is kind and pleasant.
   1.   love
   2.   lovely
8. When they heard the bad news, they were very ____________.
   1.   sadder
   2.   sadly
   3.   sad
9. I want my children to behave ____________ to every person that they meet.
   1.   nicily
   2.   nice
   3.   nicely
10. I wish that I could explain things ____________ my teacher. I always understand what he says in class.
    1.   as clearly as
    2.   clear
    3.   clearly
11. When he was a child, Tony spoke very ____________ and his friends couldn't understand him.
    1.   quietly
    2.   quieter
    3.   quiet
12. Do you think men drive ____________ women in your country?
    1.   more dangerously than
    2.   dangerously
    3.   more dangerously

Adverbs of Manner 2

For each space, type in the best adverb from the list.

Choose all of your answers and then click on "Check answers".

   badly      hard      heavily      late      later      loudly      quietly      seriously      silently      slowly      successfully      well   

1. I think I am a good singer and I like to sing. When people say that I sing , it makes me happy.
2. We asked our teacher to speak more because she always spoke too and we couldn't hear her at all.
3. It's very important to work when studying another language. Don't give up!
4. The robber lifted the window so nobody could hear him as he entered the house.
5. Sara completed her Master's Degree in Business. Isn't that great?
6. A: Did her airplane arrive last night? B: Yes, it did. It arrived much than she expected.
7. It was raining so this morning that we cancelled the picnic.
8. A: How do you think you did on the test today? B: Oh, terrible! I think I did quite . I didn't study and I don't really understand the grammar.
9. Darren is a slow eater. He eats so that he's always the last one at the dinner table.
10. The dog was injured in the accident, but it recovered and is healthy now.