Adverbs of Manner (quickly, well, hard)

Level: A2. An adverb of manner answers one question about a verb: how? He runs — how? — quickly. Most are just an adjective with -ly added, so once you know the adjective you almost know the adverb. The handful of irregular ones are worth learning by heart.

The rule

An adjective describes a noun (a quick runner). An adverb of manner describes a verb — it tells you the way an action is done (he runs quickly). That is the core difference: adjectives go with nouns, adverbs of manner go with verbs.

To make most adverbs of manner, add -ly to the adjective:

• quick → quickly, slow → slowly, careful → carefully, quiet → quietly.

A few common ones are irregular and do not follow that pattern:

• good has the special adverb well: She is a good singer → She sings well.
• fast, hard, late, early and straight are the same as adjective and adverb: a fast car → He drives fast (not “fastly”).

So the question to ask is always: am I describing a thing (adjective) or the way something is done (adverb)? If it is the way, reach for the -ly form — unless the word is one of the irregulars.

Spelling the -ly ending

Irregular adverbs of manner

Example sentences

Common mistakes

• ❌ He drives careful. → ✅ He drives carefully. Drives is a verb, so you need the adverb carefully, not the adjective careful.
• ❌ She speaks English good. → ✅ She speaks English well. The adverb of good is the irregular well.
• ❌ They work very fastly. → ✅ They work very fast. Fast has no -ly form; it stays fast.
• ❌ He sings beautiful. → ✅ He sings beautifully. Add -ly to describe the way he sings.
• ❌ She studies hardly. → ✅ She studies hard. Hardly means “almost not”, so it changes the meaning completely.
• ❌ The children played happyly. → ✅ The children played happily. A consonant before -y becomes -i: happily.

A short conversation

A: How did the interview go? B: Quite well, I think. I answered the questions clearly and spoke slowly. A: Good. You always prepare so carefully. B: True — but the traffic was bad, so I arrived late and felt nervous.

Usage notes

• Where the adverb goes. An adverb of manner usually comes after the main verb, or after the verb and its object: He sang loudly; She speaks English fluently — never between the verb and the object (She speaks fluently English is wrong).
• Not every -ly word is an adverb. Friendly, lovely, silly, lonely and ugly are adjectives even though they end in -ly. To describe a verb, use a phrase: She smiled in a friendly way, not She smiled friendly.
• Good vs well. Good is the adjective (a good meal); well is its adverb (She cooks well). Well can also be an adjective meaning “healthy” (I feel well).
• Adverbs can modify adjectives too. Many -ly words also strengthen adjectives (terribly sorry, perfectly clear), but that is intensity, not the manner of an action.

Compared with…

• Adverbs of frequency (always, usually, often, sometimes, never) answer how often, not how, and they usually go before the main verb: She always drives carefully. See Adverbs of Frequency.
• Adverbs of manner are built from adjectives, so if the adjective itself is unclear, revisit Adjectives: the Basics.

Quick recap before you practise.

Practice

Quiz

Recap cheat-sheet

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