Adverbs of Manner

1.- FORM

           

            They are formed by adding the suffix –ly to the adjective.

            Example:    careful- carefully

                               low- slowly

                               quiet- quietly

                               polite- politely

                               false- falsely

            If the adjective ends in –y, it changes into i and adds –ly.

            Ex:  happy- happily

                   easy- easily

                   noisy- noisily

           

 The adjectives friendly, lonely, lovely end in –y. If you want to use the adverb, you must use the expression: in a friendly way, in a lonely way, in a lovely

       way.

            Ex: She is lovely.

                  She treats me in a lovely way.

   Some adverbs don´t add the suffix –ly to the adjective, they are irregular.

            Adjective                      Adverb

            Fast                                 fast

            Hard                               hard

            Late                                late

            Good                              well

            Right                              right

            Straight                          straight

            Ex:  His work is very hard (adjective)

                   He works very hard (adverb)

·       hardly= apenas

           

                   He is a really good actor.( adjective)

                   He acts really well. (adverb)

                  The train was late. (adjective)

                  I got up late.(adverb)

                       

🙋   lately= últimamente

2.- POSITION.

   
These adverbs are usually placed after the main verb and the object:

Ex: She spoke to me rudely.    They arrived late.

Or before an adjective:

Ex: It´s a reasonably cheap restaurant.    Oh, I´m terribly sorry.
       
An adverb of manner cannot be put between a verb and its direct object. The adverb must be placed either before the verb or at the end of the clause.

- They opened quietly the box.
- She closed softly the door behind her.
However, if the object is long then we normally place the adverb before the verb:

- He angrily denied that he attempted to kill his wife. (the object is underlined)
- She carefully planned the last few days of her stay in London.


           VERB + PREPOSITION + OBJECT

Many verbs in English are followed by certain prepositions - some are followed by only one preposition (insist (up)on, accuse of, attend to etc.), while others can be followed by several prepositions (listen to/in on/, look at/for/into/on etc.).
In a construction verb + preposition + object we can place the adverb either after the object or before the preposition:

- I listened to her story carefully. (V + prep. + O + A) or
- I listened carefully to her story. (V + A + prep. + O)
- He replied to my letter quickly.
- He replied quickly to my letter.

Once again, if the object is long (containing several words) it affects the position of the adverb -we put the adverb before the preposition:

- I listened carefully to her story about the adventures in Africa. (the object is underlined)
- He replied quickly to my letter I sent him in a fit of anger

PRACTICE:

Determine the best word order for the adverb of manner.

1. Select your response from the list. 
2. Compare your response to the feedback by clicking the "Check"

1.

My dog                —               greets warmly me               greets me warmly              when I come home.   

Feedback 1

2.

My dog                —               patiently waits               waits patiently              at the front door.   

Feedback 2

3.

The baby                —               slowly is crawling               is crawling slowly              across the floor.

Feedback 3

4.

The baby                —               happily found               found happily              his mother.

Feedback 4

5.

The fisherman                —               held up his fish proudly.               proudly held up his fish.                

Feedback 5

6.

The fisherman                —               smiled triumphantly.               triumphantly smiled.             

Feedback 6

7.

A fortune teller                —               intensely looked               looked intensely              into his crystal ball.  

Feedback 7

8.

A genie                —               mystically can the future               can mystically see the future              in his crystal ball.  

Feedback 8

9.

The Fed Ex man                —               safely delivered the boxes               delivered safely the boxes               to our business.    

Feedback 9

10.

The Fed Ex man                —               whistled joyously               joyously whistled              as he walked down the sidewalk.   

Feedback 10 

11.

John                —               tirelessly was working               was tirelessly working              to complete his homework.

Feedback 11

12.

John                —               quietly read his book               read quietly his book               read his book quietly              until 2 a.m.

Feedback 12

13.

The disk jockey                —               musically entertained the dancers               entertained the dancers musically               entertained musically the dancers             .

Feedback 13

14.

A dancing toucan                —               cheerfully shook its tail               shook its tail cheerfully              .

Feedback 14

15.

The actress                —               blew kisses joyfully               joyfully blew kisses               blew joyfully kisses              .

Feedback 15