Imagine a friend is telling you about a concert she attended. Did the performer sing beautifully or horribly? The answer changes everything! That’s why it’s important to be able to say not just what a person did but how they did it. Luckily, English has adverbs of manner for that!

In this post:

DOWNLOAD DUOLINGO FOR FREE

What are adverbs of manner?

Adverbs of manner are a type of adverb that describes how an action is done. For example, in the sentence I always drive very carefully, the adverb carefully gives us information on how the speaker drives.

How are adverbs of manner formed?

Many adverbs of manner are formed by adding ‑ly to an adjective. However, for certain types of adjectives, there are other rules. Keep reading to learn about all of them.

Pattern for most adjectives

💡
Generally, adverbs of manner are formed by adding ‑ly to the end of an adjective.

For example:

ADJECTIVE ADVERB ENDING ADVERB
calm ‑ly calmly
loud ‑ly loudly
perfect ‑ly perfectly

Adjectives ending in -y

If an adjective ends in -y, the -y gets changed to an -i- and -ly is added to form an adverb of manner. For example:

ADJECTIVE ADVERB ENDING ADVERB
angry -ly angrily
easy -ly easily
happy -ly happily

However, this does not apply to those adjectives ending in ‑y that are only one syllable! These keep the ‑y and add ‑ly for their adverb of manner forms:

ADJECTIVE ADVERB ENDING ADVERB
dry ‑ly dryly
shy ‑ly shyly
sly ‑ly slyly

Adjectives ending in ‑le

Adjectives ending in ‑le change the ‑e to ‑y for the adverb of manner form. For example:

ADJECTIVE ADVERB ENDING ADVERB
gentle ‑y gently
incredible ‑y incredibly
simple ‑y simply

Adjectives ending in ‑ic

If an adjective ends in ‑ic, it adds ‑ally to form an adverb of manner. For example:

ADJECTIVE ADVERB ENDING ADVERB
enthusiastic ‑ally enthusiastically
fantastic ‑ally fantastically
historic ‑ally historically

Adjectives that don’t change

In some cases, the adjective and the adverb form are the exact same! For example:

ADJECTIVE ADVERB ENDING ADVERB
fast 🚫 fast
late 🚫 late
low 🚫 low

The adjective good

The English adjective good doesn’t fit into any of the above categories. It is an irregular adjective, and its adverb form is well:


  • Adjective good:
    This song is so good.
  • Adverb well:
    You sing so well.

Where do adverbs of manner appear in a sentence?

In English, there are four possible positions in a sentence for adverbs of manner:

POSITION EXAMPLE
after the main verb
(most common position when there’s no direct object)		 I ate quickly.
after the direct object
(most common position when there is a direct object)		 He closed the door gently.
before the main verb
(emphasizes the adverb)		 She bravely climbed the mountain.
at the start of the sentence
(used for emphasis or stylistic reasons)		 Quietly, we left the room.

List of 30 common English adverbs of manner

There are lots of adverbs of manner in English! Some of the most common ones are:

ADVERB OF MANNER EXAMPLE
angrily She left angrily.
badly I sing very badly.
beautifully Oscar paints so beautifully.
bravely They bravely told the truth.
calmly The boat rocked calmly.
carefully Carefully, he picked up the broken glass.
closely We examined the letter closely.
correctly Wow, you answered correctly!
deliberately Did he deliberately leave his phone?
eagerly She eagerly went to sleep.
easily They solved the problem easily.
enthusiastically They went to school enthusiastically.
generously We generously tipped the server.
gently He kissed the baby gently.
happily He happily retired.
honestly We didn’t answer honestly.
kindly The teacher smiled kindly.
loudly Please don’t talk so loudly.
neatly My son always folds his clothes neatly.
patiently It’s sometimes hard to wait patiently.
perfectly You don’t need to do things perfectly.
politely Vikram politely held the door for me.
poorly We see very poorly.
quickly Can you quickly go to the store?
quietly Please speak quietly in the library.
shyly Lily shyly raised her hand.
silently He read silently.
slowly They walk very slowly.
softly She always speaks softly.
well Your daughter reads really well!
DOWNLOAD DUOLINGO FOR FREE

You’ve learned your adverbs of manner so well!

Now that you know all about adverbs of manner, you’re ready to go out in the world and use them! It might take a little bit of practice, but soon, you’ll be doing it perfectly 😉