Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
How it was done
Find and use adverbs that tell you how an action was done.
An adjective describes a thing: a quiet room. An adverb of manner describes an action: she closed the door quietly. It answers one question about the verb — how?
The test question
Find the verb, then ask "how?". If a word answers that, it is an adverb of manner. He shouted angrily. How did he shout? Angrily.
Building one
Most adverbs of manner are an adjective with -ly on the end. Slow becomes slowly, careful becomes carefully, brave becomes bravely.
Two spelling changes
An adjective ending in y changes it to i first: happy becomes happily, easy becomes easily. An adjective ending in -le swaps the e for y: gentle becomes gently, simple becomes simply.
Not every adverb ends in -ly
A few keep the same shape as the adjective. He is a fast runner. He runs fast. Both are correct, and fast is doing the adverb's job in the second one.
Worked example
Find the adverb: "The rope snapped suddenly and the bucket fell."
Find the verbs: snapped and fell.
An adverb of manner belongs to a verb, so the verbs are where to start.
Try it together
Let us turn three adjectives into adverbs.
Each answer is one word: the adjective with the right ending, spelled correctly.
1.The adjective is "loud". Write the adverb: The bell rang ____.
Have a go
Which word in "The dancer moved gracefully" is the adverb?
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.