Adverbs Spelling -LY

A- SPELLING RULES FOR ADDING -LY

Adverbs are normally formed by adding -LY to the end of an adjective. For example:

Adjective Adverb bad badly

complete completelynormal normally

surprising surprisinglyspecial specially

nice nicelypolite politely

beautiful beautifully

rare rarely

1) Adjectives ending in icWhen the adjective ends in IC, the syllable AL is usually added before the LY ending. For example:

Adjective Adverbdramatic dramaticallyscientific scientificallyspecific specifically

enthusiastic enthusiastically

Exception: public – publicly

2) Adjectives ending in LE

* When the adjective ends in LE preceded by a consonant, the final E is usually changed to Y, to form the ly ending. For example:

Adjective Adverb favorable favorablyhumble humblysimple simply

idle idly

subtle subtly

noticeable noticeably

* When the adjective ends in le preceded by a vowel, in most cases, LY is simply added to the positive form of the adjective. For example:

Adjective Adverbagile agilelysole solely

Exception: whole – wholly

3) Adjectives ending in LLWhen the adjective ends in LL, only Y is added. For example:

Adjective Adverbdull dullyfull fully

shrill shrilly

4) Adjectives ending in UEWhen the adjective ends in UE, the final E is usually omitted before the ending LY is added. For example:

Adjective Adverbdue dulytrue truly

5) Adjectives ending in Y* When the adjective ends in Y preceded by a consonant, the Y is usually changed to I before the ending LY is added. For example:

Adjective Adverb  busy busily  easy easily  happy happily

  angry angrily

  crazy crazily

Exceptions: shy and sly, LY is simply added to the adjective:

Adjective Adverbshy shylysly slyly

* When the adjective ends in Y preceded by a vowel, in most cases, LY is simply added to the adjective. For example:

Adjective Adverbcoy coylygrey greyly

Exception: gay, Y is changed to I before the ending LY is added: gay - gaily

B- IRREGULAR ADJECTIVES: The following table gives examples of adverbs of manner, location, time and frequency which have the same forms as the corresponding adjectives.

Adjective Adverb of Manner

fast fasthard hard

little littleloud loud/loudlymuch much

straight straight

Adjective Adverb of locationfar far

high highlow lownear nearwide wide

Adjective Adverb of timeearly early first firstlate late long long

Adjective Adverb of frequencydaily daily

monthly monthlyweekly weeklyyearly yearly

N.B: It should also be noted that there are several adjectives ending in ly which have no corresponding adverbs: friendly * likely * lively * lonely * silly * ugly

When it is desired to use one of these words to modify a verb, an adverb phrase of manner may be used. In the following examples, the adverb phrases are underlined.e.g. He behaved in a friendly manner .      They acted in a silly way .

Adverbs With and Without ly Endings

The following table gives examples of pairs of adverbs which are closely related, but which have different meanings.

Adverb Meaning   Adverb Meaning  hard   with effort     hardly   scarcely  high   opposite of low     highly   very; very well  late   opposite of early     lately   recently  near   opposite of far     nearly   almost  wide   opposite of narrow     widely   commonly

The meanings of these adverbs are illustrated in the following examples.e.g. I worked hard.      I have hardly enough time to finish.

      He threw the ball high into the air.      He is highly successful in what he does.

      The class began late.      The weather has been cold lately.

      I held my breath as the squirrel crept near to get the nuts.      I have nearly finished reading the book.

      I opened the door wide.

      That theory is widely believed.