Giving information about manner: adverbs

types of adverbs 6.16 There are several types of adverbs:

• adverbs of time, frequency, and duration, for example 'soon', 'often', and 'always'. Because these are all related to time, they are dealt with fully in Chapter 5.

• adverbs of place, for example 'around', 'downstairs', and 'underneath'. These are dealt with in the section on place beginning at paragraph 6.82.

• adverbs of manner, for example 'beautifully', 'carefully', and 'silently'. See the section beginning at paragraph 6.36 for more information about these.

• adverbs of degree, for example 'almost', the section beginning at paragraph 6.415 for more information about these.

• linking adverbs, for example 'consequently', 'furthermore', and 'however'. These are dealt with in paragraphs 10.73 to 10.81.

• sentence adverbs, for example 'alas', 'apparently', 'chiefly', and 'interestingly'. See the section beginning at paragraph 10.56 for more information on these.

• broad negative adverbs, for example 'barely', 'hardly', 'rarely', 'scarcely', and 'seldom'. These are dealt with at paragraphs 4.83 to 4.90.

• focusing adverbs, for example 'especially' and 'only'. These are dealt with in the section beginning at paragraph 10.87.

Adverb forms and meanings related to adjectives

6.17 Many adverbs are related to adjectives. The main relationships and rules of formation are explained below.

Many adverbs are formed by adding '-ly' to an adjective. For example, the adverbs 'quietly' and 'badly' are formed by adding '-ly' to the adjectives 'quiet' and 'bad'.

Most of the adverbs formed in this way are adverbs of manner, so some people refer to adverbs of manner as '-ly' adverbs.

Sit there quietly, and listen to this music.

I didn't play badly.

He reported accurately what they said.

He nodded and smiled warmly.

For more information about adjectives, see Chapter 2.

6.18 Some '-ly' adverbs have slightly different spellings from the adjectives they are related to, for example 'nastily', 'gently', 'terribly, 'academically', 'truly', and 'fully'. For information about these adverbs, see the Reference Section.

6.19 Not all adverbs ending in '-ly' are adverbs of manner. Some are adverbs of degree, such as 'extremely' and 'slightly': see the list at paragraph 6.45.

I enjoyed the course immensely.

Mansell narrowed the gap slightly, but soon Prost was edging away again.

A few are adverbs of time, duration, or frequency, such as 'presently', 'briefly', and 'weekly': see the lists of these in Chapter 5.

At 10.15 a.m. soldiers briefly opened fire again.

Mr Kinnock can presently be seen experiencing the same sort of trouble.

Others are adverbs of place, such as 'locally' and 'internationally', linking adverbs such as 'consequently', or sentence adverbs such as 'actually'. For lists of adverbs of place, see the section beginning at paragraph 6.82. For lists of sentence adverbs, see Chapter 10.

The lady replied: 'Well, you live locally and have never caused any bother.'

These efforts have received little credit internationally.

They did not preach. Consequently, they reached a vastly wider audience.

There suit remains something to say. Several things, actually.

6.20 Most adverbs formed by adding '-ly' to an adjective have a similar meaning to the adjective, for example 'quietly' and 'beautifully' have similar meanings to 'quiet' and 'beautiful'.

She is thoughtful, quiet and controlled.

'I'm going to do it', I said quietly.

His costumes are beautiful, a big improvement on the previous ones.

The girls had dressed more beautifully than ever, for him.

6.21 Some '-ly' adverbs have a different meaning from the meanings of their related adjectives. For example, 'hardly' means 'not very much' or 'almost not at all' and is not used with any of the meanings of the adjective 'hard'.

This has been a long hard day.

Her bedroom was so small she could hardly move in it.

barely hardly

lately presently

scarcely shortly

6.22 Some '-ly' adverbs are not related to adjectives, for example 'accordingly'. Some are related to nouns, for example 'bodily', 'purposely', 'daily' and 'weekly'. For lists of these, see the Reference Section.

6.23 Adverbs ending in '-ly' are very rarely formed from some types of adjectives.

• most classifying adjectives, for example 'racist', 'eastern', 'female', 'urban', 'foreign', and 'available'. See Chapter 2 for lists of classifying adjectives.

• most colour adjectives, although '-ly' adverbs from these are occasionally found in works of literature.

His face appeared, lit redly.

He lay still, staring blackly up at the ceiling.

• some very common qualitative adjectives which refer to basic qualities:

big fat

old small

tall tiny

wet young

adjectives which already end in '-ly', for example 'friendly', 'lively', 'cowardly', 'ugly', and 'silly'.

• most adjectives that end in '-ed', such as 'frightened' and 'surprised'. See the Reference Section for a list of the common ones which do form '-ly' adverbs, such as 'excitedly' and 'hurriedly'.

same form as adjective 6.24 In some cases, an adverb has the same form as an adjective and is similar in meaning. For example, 'fast' is an adverb in the sentence 'News travels fast' and an adjective in the sentence 'She likes fast cars'.

...a fast rail link from London to the Channel Tunnel.

The driver was driving too fast for the conditions.

In these cases, the adverb is usually placed immediately after the verb or object, and rarely in front of the verb.

alike downtown extra

far fast inside

long next outside

overseas past straight

through

There are also a number of words ending in '-ly' which are both adverbs and adjectives, for example 'daily', 'monthly', and 'yearly'. These relate to frequency and are explained in paragraph 5.120.

6.25 Several postdeterminers, including 'further', 'next', 'only', 'opposite', and 'same', have the same form as adverbs but no direct relation in meaning. Note that 'well' is an adverb and adjective, but usually means 'not ill' as an adjective, and 'with skill or success' as an adverb.

He has done well.

two forms 6.26 Sometimes, two adverbs are related to the same adjective. One adverb has the same form as the adjective, and the other is formed by adding '-ly'.

He closed his eyes tight.

He closed his eyes tightly.

They also instituted a legacy which will cost this country dear.

Holes in the road are a menace which costs this country dearly in lost man hours every year.

The German manufacturer was urging me to cut out the middle man and deal with him direct.

The trend in recent years has been to deal directly with the supplier.

Here is a list of common adverbs that have both these forms:

clear clearly close closely dear dearly

deep deeply direct directly easy easily

fine finely first firstly hard hardly

high highly last lastly late lately

thick thickly thin thinly tight tightly

Note that the '-ly' adverb often has a different meaning from the adverb with the same form as the adjective.

The river was running high and swiftly.

I thought highly of the idea.

He has worked hard.

Border could hardly make himself heard above the din.

When the snake strikes, its mouth opens wide.

Closing dates for applications vary widely.

Note that, with some words that are adverbs and adjectives, the addition of '-ly' forms a new adverb and a new adjective, for example 'dead' and 'deadly', 'low' and 'lowly'.

6.27 Some adjectives do not form adverbs at all. These include the common qualitative adjectives listed in paragraph 6.23, such as 'big' and 'old'.

Here is a list of some more adjectives that do not form adverbs:

afraid alive alone asleep

awake content difficult drunk

foreign good hurt ill

little long sorry standard

Note that the adverbs relating to 'content' and 'drunk' are formed by adding '-ly' to the forms 'contented' and 'drunken', thus giving 'contentedly' and 'drunkenly'.

6.28 If there is no adverb related to an adjective, and you want to give in additional information about an event or situation, you can often use a prepositional phrase.

In some cases, the prepositional phrase involves a noun that is related to the adjective. For example, there is no adverb related to the adjective 'difficult', but you can use the related noun 'difficulty' in the prepositional phrase 'with difficulty' instead.

He stood up slowly and with difficulty.

In other cases, for example with adjectives that end in '-ly', a general noun such as 'way', 'manner', or 'fashion' is used.

'Fishing?' she said in a silly way.

He greeted us in his usual friendly fashion.

Prepositional phrases may be used even if an adverb does exist, for example when you want to add more detailed information or to add emphasis.

She comforted the bereaved relatives in a dignified, compassionate and personalized manner.

At these extreme velocities, materials behave in a totally different manner from normal.

adverbs not related to adjectives 6.29 Some adverbs are not related to adjectives at all. This is especially true of adverbs of time and place. See Chapter 5 for adverbs of time, and the section beginning at paragraph 6.82 for adverbs of place.

It will soon be Christmas.

There are also some other adverbs that are not related to adjectives.

For a list of the common adverbs that are not related to adjectives, see the Reference Section.