Formation of Adverbs

Most adverbs are formed by adding ly to an adjective. Examples are: able, ably; cheerful, cheerfully; wise, wisely; clever, cleverly; modest, modestly; kind, kindly; probable, probably, earnest, earnestly etc.

• He is a strange (adjective) person.
• He behaved strangely (adverb).
• She is a beautiful (adjective) girl.
• She sang beautifully (adverb).

The suffixes wise, ways, ward and wards are also used to form adverbs.

• She glanced sideways at the strangers.
• She looked upwards.
• They marched onward.
• She walked backwards.

Note that most of these words can be used both as adjectives and adverbs.

Sections in this article

Formation adverbs

Position of adverbs

Comparison of adverbs

Position of frequency adverbs

See also

Adjective clauses

Relative clauses

Relative pronouns

Identifying relative clauses

Omission of relative pronouns