Forms of Adverbs
There are three forms of adverbs: adverbs formed by adding -ly to an adjective, adverbs that share identical words with an adjective, and adverbs not derived from an adjective or any other word.
1. Most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective
He had a sudden heart attack while jogging. (Adjective)
He suddenly had a heart attack while jogging. (Adverb)
She had a quick walk to get there on time. (Adjective)
She walked quickly to get there on time. (Adverb)
2. Adverbs that share identical words with an adjective
He found the exam quite hard. (Adjective)
He failed his exam as he didn't try very hard. (Adverb)
The two brothers live on opposite sides of the city. (Adjective)
She has a brother who lives opposite to her. (Adverb)
3. Adverbs such as as, even, how, never, next, now, rather, so, soon, still, then, too, etc. are not derived from an adjective or any other word.
· He said he had never been to a circkus.
· She has got rather a lot of money to spend at this time of the month.
· She has eaten two big pizzas and is still hungry
4. Converting a number of adjectives to adverbs by adding -ly entails removing a letter as shown in the following:
· by adding –ly or –ally to the end of an adjective (quick –quickly, heroic –heroically),
· by adding –ly after removing the last –e from an adjective (comfortable– comfortably,possible–possibly), or
· by dropping the last y from an adjective and replacing it with –ily (easy–easily, happy– happily).
5. Adverbs are also formed from other parts of speech such as noun (accident) and verb (hurry), and from present participle (frightening).
• She deleted my file by accident. (Noun)
• She accidentally deleted my file. (Adverb)
• Nick hurried to answer the telephone. (Verb)
· Nick moved hurriedly to answer the telephone. (Adverb)
· He's frightening us with the speed he's driving. (present participle)
· He's driving frighteningly close to the edge of the pavement. (Adverb)
