Look at these examples:
* Our holiday was too short - the time went very quickly.
* The driver of the car was seriously injured in the accident.
Quickly and seriously are adverbs. Many adverbs are made from an adjective + -1y:
adjective: quick serious careful quiet heavy bad
adverb: quickly seriously carefully quietly heavily badly
Not all words ending in -ly are adverbs. Some adjectives end in -ly too, for example:
friendly lively elderly lonely silly lovely
Adjective or adverb?
Adjectives (quick/careful etc.) tell us about a noun. We use adjectives before nouns and after some verbs, especially be:
* Tom is a careful driver. (not 'a carefully driver')
* We didn't go out because of the heavy rain.
* Please be quiet.
* I was disappointed that my exam results were so bad.
We also use adjectives after the verbs look/feel/sound etc. (see Unit 98D):
* Why do you always look so serious?
Adverbs (quickly/carefully etc.) tell us about a verb. An adverb tells us how somebody does something or how something happens:
* Tom drove carefully along the narrow road. (not 'drove careful')
* We didn't go out because it was raining heavily. (not 'raining heavy')
* Please speak quietly. (not 'speak quiet')
* I was disappointed that I did so badly in the exam. (not 'did so bad')
Why do you never take me seriously?
Compare:
* She speaks perfect English. (adjective + noun)
* She speaks English perfectly. (verb + object + adverb)
Compare these sentences with look:
* Tom looked sad when I saw him. (= he seemed sad, his expression was sad)
* Tom looked at me sadly. (= he looked at me in a sad way)
We also use adverbs before adjectives and other adverbs. For example:
reasonably cheap (adverb + adjective)
terribly sorry (adverb + adjective)
incredibly quickly (adverb + adverb)
* It's a reasonably cheap restaurant and the food is extremely good.
* Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to push you. (not 'terrible sorry')
* Maria learns languages incredibly quickly.
* The examination was surprisingly easy.
You can also use an adverb before a past participle (injured/organised/written etc.)
* Two people were seriously injured in the accident. (not 'serious injured')
* The meeting was very badly organised.
EXERCISES
99.1 Complete the sentences with adverbs. The first letter(s) of each adverb are given.
1. We didn't go out because it was raining _heavily._
2. Our team lost the game because we played very ba---.
3. I had little difficulty finding a place to live. I found a flat quite ea---.
4. We had to wait for a long time but we didn't complain. We waited pa---.
5. Nobody knew George was coming to see us. He arrived unex---.
6. Mike keeps fit by playing tennis reg---.
99.2 Put in the right word.
1. The driver of the car was _seriously_ injured. (serious/seriously)
2. The driver of the car had serious_ injuries. (serious/seriously)
3. I think you behaved very ---. (selfish/selfishly)
4. Rose is --- I upset about losing her job. (terrible/terribly)
5. There was a --- change in the weather. (sudden/suddenly)
6. Everybody at the party was --- dressed. (colourful/colourfully)
7. Linda likes wearing --- clothes. (colourful/colourfully)
8. She fell and hurt herself quite ---.(bad/badly)
9. He says he didn't do well at school because he was --- taught. (bad/badly)
10. Don't go up that ladder. It doesn't look ---. (safe/safely)
11. He looked at me --- when I interrupted him. (angry/angrily)
99.3 Complete each sentence using a word from the list. Sometimes you need the adjective (careful etc.) and sometimes the adverb (carefully etc.).
careful(ly) complete(ly) continuous(ly) financial(ly) fluent(ly) happy/happily nervous(ly) perfect(ly) quick(ly) special(1y)
1. Our holiday was too short. The time passed very _quickly._
2. Tom doesn't take risks when he's driving. He's always ---.
3. Sue works --- She never seems to stop.
4. Alice and Stan are very --- married.
5. Monica's English is very --- although she makes quite a lot of mistakes.
6. I cooked this meal --- for you, so I hope you like it.
7. Everything was very quiet. There was --- silence.
8. I tried on the shoes and they fitted me ---.
9. Do you usually feel --- before examinations?
10. I'd like to buy a car but it's --- impossible for me at the moment.
99.4 Choose two words (one from each box) to complete each sentence.
absolutely reasonably unusually badly seriously unnecessarily completely slightly
cheap enormous planned badly changed ill quiet damaged long
1. I thought the restaurant would be expensive but it was _reasonably cheap._
2. George's mother is --- in hospital.
3. What a big house! It's ---.
4. It wasn't a serious accident. The car was only ---.
5. The children are normally very lively but they're --- today.
6, When I returned home after 20 years, everything had ---.
7. The film was --- It could have been much shorter.
8. A lot went wrong during our holiday because it was ---.
99.1
2 badly 3 easily 4 patiently
5 unexpectedly 6 regularly
99.2
3 selfishly 4 terribly
5 sudden 6 colourfully
7 colorful 8 badly
9 badly 10 safe
11 angrily
99.3
2 careful 3 continuously
4 happily 5 fluent
6 specially 7 complete
8 perfectly 9 nervous
10 financially/completely
99.4
2 seriously ill
3 absolutely enormous
4 slightly damaged
5 unusually quiet
6 completely changed
7 unnecessarily long
8 badly planned
