Adverbs of Manner

Adverbs of manner tell "how." They usually modify a verb or verb phrase and often end in the suffix -ly. For example, let's think about how Lucy skates, how Brent skis, how Wendy surfs, and how Charles C. Pinckney governed:

Lucy skates happily.

Lucy might also skate gracefully, smoothly, or slowly.

Brent skis recklessly.

Brent might also ski hastily, gleefully, or clumsily.

Wendy surfs fanatically.

Wendy might also surf beautifully, expertly, or uncertainly.

Charles C. Pinckney governed cautiously.

Charles C. Pinckney might have governed responsibly, expertly, cleverly, irresponsibly, or inconsistently. These are all adverbs of manner, answering the question "how."

Examples 1

Write the adverbs of manner from these sentences:

1. The ice broke loudly and suddenly.
2. The emcee spoke quickly and loudly.
3. The elderly gentleman walked carefully and slowly with his cane.
4. Nadine spoke graciously, gently, and modestly to her younger sister.

Solutions

We identify adverbs of manner:

1. The adverbs loudly and suddenly tell "how" the ice broke.
2. The adverbs quickly and loudly tell "how" the emcee spoke.
3. The adverbs carefully and slowly tell "how" the gentleman walked.
4. The adverbs graciously, gently, and modestly tell "how" Nadine spoke.

Suffix -ly

Descriptive adjectives often end with suffixes such as -able, -ful, -ive, or -ous. Below are the adjective and adverb forms of some nouns. Notice that the adverb of manner is formed by adding -ly to the adjective.

Of course, not every word that ends in -ly is an adverb. Ghastly, hilly, lively, chilly, lovely, friendly, orderly, and lonely are all adjectives.

Adjective or Adverb?

Some words, such as hard, fast, right, early, and long, have the same form whether they are used as adjectives or adverbs. However, we can always tell how the word is being used because an adjective modifies a noun or pronoun, and an adverb modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb.

We must learn to see the difference between an adverb and a predicate adjective. Look at the following sentence:

The dog looks friendly.

It might seem that friendly tells "how" the dog looks. But we remember that we can identify a predicate adjective by replacing a possible linking verb (looks) with a "to be" verb:

The dog was friendly. (friendly dog)

The word friendly describes the dog, not the act of looking. It is an adjective. Compare this to a sentence containing an action verb:

A tiger moves silently.

If we replace an action verb with a "to be" verb, the sentence no longer makes sense:

A tiger is silently? (silently tiger?)

Silently does not describe the tiger. It describes the act of moving. It is an adverb of manner.

Examples 2

Tell whether each of the the italicized words in these sentences are adjectives or adverbs of manner. Also, tell which word or phrase each modifies.

1. Amber paddled hard against the current.
2. The long, hard trip was worth it.
3. Two wild monkeys grew friendly.
4. Please stand still.
5. The still water in the lake was crystal clear.
6. After the storm, the water grew still.

Solutions

1. The word hard is an adverb of manner. It modifies the verb "paddled." Hard tells "how" Amber paddled.  
2. The word hard is an adjective. It modifies the noun "trip." Hard tells "what kind" of trip.
3. The word friendly is an adjective. It modifies the noun "monkeys." Friendly tells "what kind" of monkeys.
4. The word still is an adverb of manner that modifies the verb "stand." Still tells "how" to stand.
5. The word still is an adjective. It modifies the noun "water." Still tells "what kind" of water.
6. The word still is a predicate adjective modifying the noun "water."