Manner Adverbs

Manner adverbs describe how an action happens. They usually give more information about a verb or a verb phrase. They answer the question how.

Many manner adverbs are common in everyday English. They describe the way people do actions in daily life.

Manner adverbs modify verbs and verb phrases. They can come after the verb or after the object. Their place depends on the verb phrase, but they stay close to the action they describe.

Many manner adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective. This is a common way to make an adverb in English. The new word describes how someone does an action.

Some adjectives change spelling when -ly is added. These changes follow clear patterns. The spelling helps show the correct adverb form.

Some words look like adverbs, but they are adjectives. They do not describe how an action happens in the same way as manner adverbs. Words such as friendly, lonely, and lively are adjectives.

You can now use manner adverbs to describe how actions happen in English. You can recognize common manner adverbs, form many of them with -ly, and notice some spelling changes. You can also see that some -ly words are adjectives, not manner adverbs.