Adverbs Spelling -LY

Adjective vs. Adverb Review

Adjectives describe nouns (things).

• My dog is slow.

Slow is an adjective since it describes the subject (my dog).

How is my dog? Slow

Adverbs describe verbs (actions).

• My dog eats slowly.

Slowly is an adverb since it describes the way my dog eats.

How does my dog eat? Slowly.

For details see our page about Adjectives vs Adverbs.

Adverbs -LY

Adverbs are normally formed by adding -LY to the end of an adjective.

E.g. Quick - Quickly

For adjectives that end in -l or -e, we simply add -ly:

special + ly	= specially
terminal + ly	= terminally
literal + ly	= literally
nice + ly	= nicely
polite + ly	= politely

There are of course some exceptions:

true	truly
whole	wholly
due	duly
full	fully

Adverbs ending in -Y

For adjectives that end in -y, we remove the -y and add -ily:

crazy	crazily
happy	happily

Adverbs ending in -LE

For adjectives that end in a consonant + le we remove the -e and add -y:

terrible	terribly
horrible	horribly
noble	nobly
idle	idly

Adverbs ending in -IC

If the adjective ends in -ic, we add -ally:

ironic	ironically
enthusiastic	enthusiastically
realistic	realistically

Except: public - publicly

Irregular Adverbs

Some adverbs are irregular:

Adjective	Adverb	Example
fast	fast	The man drives very fast (quickly).
good	well	You speak English very well.