Suffix LY Spelling Rules

Suffix LY Spelling Rules

Spelling rules for adding –ly to the word

Ly is a suffix that is added at the end of the word. When we add the suffix –ly, some spelling changes take place. It is crucial to know the rules. You will not have spelling mistakes if you follow the spelling rules accurately.

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Add ‘Ly’ to the most words

We add the suffix –ly to most of the words and words that end with consonant. It means we add just –ly at the end without changing anything else.

Word	Suffix word
Slow	Slowly
Week	Weekly
Quick	Quickly
Friend	Friendly
Independent	Independently

Words end in -Y

When a more than one syllable word ends in ‘Y’ and there is a consonant before ‘Y’, we will have to change it into ‘I’ and add the suffix –ly.

Word	Suffix word
Happy	Happily
Steady	Steadily
Easy	Easily
Necessary	Necessarily
Greedy	Greedily

Remember that no changes take place if the word is one syllable. We just add the suffix –ly.

Word	Suffix word
Shy	Shyly
Sly	Slyly
Dry	Dryly

Exceptions:

Day becomes daily

Gay becomes gaily

When a word ends in ‘Y’ and there is a vowel before ‘Y’, just –ly is added without any other changes.

Word	Suffix word
Gray	Grayly
Grey	Greyly
Coy	Coyly

Words end in -L

If you have ‘L’ at the end of the word, you need to add –ly as a suffix. You will have double ‘L’ in this case.

Word	Suffix word
Beautiful	Beautifully
Careful	Carefully
Abnormal	Abnormally
Final	Finally
Financial	Financially

Words end in double -L

We have words that end in double ‘L’, in such a case we don’t need to add –ly. We just add ‘Y’.

Word	Suffix word
Dull	Dully
Full	Fully
Shrill	Shrilly
Sill	Silly

Words end in -LE

Words ending in ‘LE’ need to be checked if there is consonant before or vowel. If there is a consonant, you need to just change ‘E’ into ‘Y’. You don’t need to add the suffix –ly.

Word	Suffix word
Favorable	Favorably
Terrible	Terribly
Comfortable	Comfortably
Humble	Humbly
Possible	Possibly

If there is vowel before the last letters ‘LE’, then you need to add just –ly.

Word	Suffix word
Sole	Solely
Agile	Agilely

Words end in -IC

With words ending in ‘IC’, we add ‘AL’ before adding the suffix –ly. You can say that ‘ALLY’ is added in this case. There is just one exception that is the word ‘Public’. Public becomes publicly.

Word	Suffix word
Specific	Specifically
Basic	Basically
Enthusiastic	Enthusiastically
Automatic	Automatically
Romantic	Romantically

Words end in -E

If a word ends in ‘E’, we keep it and add –ly. Remember that we have some exceptions. In some cases we drop the last ‘E’ like whole/wholly.

Word	Suffix word
Nice	Nicely
Wise	Wisely
Extreme	Extremely
Immediate	Immediately
Sure	Surely

Words end in -UE

We drop the last ‘E’ if a word ends in ‘UE’ to add the suffix –ly. Most adjectives end in ‘QUE’ and the three letters make a single consonant sound. We keep the letter ‘E’ and add the suffix –ly.

Word	Suffix word
True	Truly
Due	Duly
Unique	Uniquely
Vague	Vaguely
Brusque	Brusquely

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