Adjective vs. Adverb | Confusing Cases

Most words ending in -ly are adverbs. Examples are: kindly, cleverly, eagerly, stupidly, foolishly, pleasantly etc. There are also some adjectives ending in -ly. Examples of such adjectives are: costly, deadly, cowardly, friendly, lonely, silly, ugly etc.

• My neighbours are friendly.
• No child is ugly.
• It was a lovely morning.
• The watch was costly.
• Don’t ask such silly questions.

Some adjectives and adverbs have the same form. Examples are: fast, hard, high, late, near, straight, wrong, daily, early, leisurely etc.

• She is a fast learner. (Here the adjective fast modifies the noun learner.)
• Why are you driving so fast? (Here the adverb fast modifies the verb driving.)
• Hard work does not always lead to success. (Here the adjective hard modifies the noun work.)
• Work hard. (Here the adverb hard modifies the verb work.)
• The early bird catches the worm. (Here the adjective early modifies the noun bird.)
• We started early. (Here the adverb early modifies the verb started.)
• His late father was an attorney. (Here the adjective late modifies the noun father.)
• He arrived late. (Here the adverb late modifies the verb arrived.)
• They might find a cure for cancer in the near future. (Here the adjective near modifies the noun future.)
• I went near the park. (Here the adverb near modifies the verb went.)

Adjective or Adverb worksheet

Fill in the blanks with an adjective or adverb.

1. His injuries are ………………………… (fatal / fatally)
2. He walked …………………….. (slow / slowly)
3. She gave a …………………….. description of the event. (vivid / vividly)
4. I still …………………….. remember that experience. (vivid / vividly)
5. I ……………………. assumed that he was an impostor. (right / rightly)
6. You spelled my name ……………………….. (wrong / wrongly)
7. She said ……………………… anything. (hard / hardly)
8. She was ……………………… injured in the accident. (bad / badly)
9. I felt …………………….. for the refugees. (bad / badly)
10. They came ……………………….. to hitting each other. (close / closely)
11. We are ……………………… monitoring the situation. (close / closely)
12. He was so weak that he could not walk ……………………… (straight /straightly)

Answers

1. fatal (Here the adjective fatal modifies the number injuries.)
2. slowly (Here the adverb slowly modifies the verb walked.)
3. vivid (Here the adjective vivid modifies the noun description.)
4. vividly (Here the adverb vividly modifies the verb remember.)
5. rightly
6. wrong / wrongly (Wrongly is the correct answer; wrong is possible in an informal style.)
7. hardly
8. badly (badly means severely)
9. bad (Feel is a copular verb. We use adjectives, not adverbs, to modify copular verbs.)
10. close (Come is a copular verb; we use adjectives to modify copular verbs.)
11. closely
12. straight (Straight can be an adjective or adverb.)

See Also:

• How to identify an adverb?
• Position of adverbs