Adverb of Manner: Your Guide to How Things Happen
Adverb of Manner
Read this guide to find out what adverbs of manner are and how to use them, including examples.
What is an Adverb of Manner?
An adverb of manner modifies or changes a sentence to tell us how something happens, such as whether it is quickly or slowly. They’re usually placed after the main verb or after the object.
Like other adverbs, they can provide more detail to sentences, giving the reader a clearer picture.
Adverb of Manner Examples
| Adverb of Manner | Example Sentence |
| well | He writes well. |
| quickly | The dog quickly ran after the ball. |
| slowly | She stood up slowly. |
| happily | They happily ate the food. |
| sadly | She looked up sadly. |
| angrily | He asked angrily. |
| beautifully | It was beautifully drawn. |
| lovingly | The cake was lovingly made. |
| loudly | ‘What?’ he said loudly. |
| softly | She whispered softly. |
How do you write an Adverb of Manner?
To make an adverb of manner, we usually add the suffix ‘ly’ to an adjective.
| Adjective | Adverb of Manner |
| quick | quickly |
| slow | slowly |
| sad | sadly |
| loving | lovingly |
| loud | loudly |
| soft | softly |
However, when an adjective already ends in ‘y’, we have to change the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ before adding the ‘ly’ suffix.
| Adjective | Adverb of Manner |
| happy | happily |
| angry | angrily |
| cosy | cosily |
| hazy | hazily |
| eery | eerily |
| noisy | noisily |
How do you use an Adverb of Manner?
Adverbs of manner can sometimes be misplaced within a sentence. They can’t be placed between a verb and its direct object. When the adverb is misplaced, the sentence doesn’t make grammatical sense. Here are some common errors that are made with these adverbs:
| Incorrect | Correct |
| He ate quickly his lunch. | He quickly ate his lunch. / He ate his lunch quickly. |
| They missed unfortunately the train. | They unfortunately missed the train. / They missed the train, unfortunately. |
| The cat caught skilfully the mouse. | The cat skilfully caught the mouse. / The cat caught the mouse skilfully. |
If there’s a preposition before the verb’s object, you can place the adverb of manner before the preposition or after the object. This is either in the middle or at the end of the sentence.
| It landed softly on the rug. |
| It landed on the rug softly. |
They should come immediately after verbs that have no object.
| They waited patiently until 4.30pm. |
| She slept soundly despite the noise outside. |
| He walked quickly to get there in time. |
A selection of adverbs of manner is almost always placed directly after the verb. These adverb of manner exceptions are:
- well;
- badly;
- hard;
- and fast.
| She performed well in the competition. |
| He fell over, and it hurt badly. |
| The rain came down hard. |
| The car drove fast. |
The placement of an adverb of manner can sometimes alter the entire sentence, so it’s important to take care when you’re using them. This is especially important when a sentence has more than one verb. Take a look at these examples:
| Sentence | Meaning |
| She quickly asked me to hand over the phone. | The asking is quick. |
| She asked me quickly to hand over the phone. | The asking is quick. |
| She asked me to quickly hand over the phone. | The handing over is quick. |
| She asked me to hand over the phone quickly. | The handing over is quick. |
In some cases, authors use these adverbs at the start of a sentence to grab the reader’s attention and draw a focus to the adverb. This emphasizes the meaning of the adverb.
| Slowly, she opened the door. | She opened the door slowly. |
| Quickly, he ran back to his mother. | He ran back to his mother quickly. |
| Happily, she tried on her new shoes. | She tried on her new shoes happily. |
| Tragically, they missed each other. | They missed each other tragically. |
Can you use two adverbs in a sentence?
Adverbs of manner are ideal for adding a description to your writing, making it more interesting to read and giving it more context. Because of this, we can use them in multiple ways within a text, layering adverbs to build more engaging narratives. There are many occasions when writers use more than one adverb in the same sentence, and it’s grammatically correct to do so.
Here are examples of different ways to use two adverbs in a sentence.
Using two adverbs in a sentence to compare different things
We can use two adverbs in a sentence to highlight a comparison between two different things or provide contrast in our writing. For example:
‘Ella ate slowly, while Tom rapidly devoured his food.’
‘The class was supposed to be reading silently, but James could be heard whispering audibly.’
‘Our new puppy has to be trained to wait patiently, even though she wants to eat constantly.’
‘We’re playing carefully with this toy because it can’t be handled roughly.’
Using two adverbs in a sentence for extra emphasis
Sometimes, we might want to use two adverbs in a sentence to convey a mood, give a reason or add more emphasis to our writing. Here are some of the ways this can be done.
‘The wind blew coldly and viciously.’
‘Suddenly, the woman felt overwhelmingly sad.’
‘Javier ran hastily, desperately hoping he wouldn’t miss the bus.’
‘Ben smiled happily because the sun was shining warmly on his face.’
Using two adverbs in a sentence concurrently
Is it grammatically correct to use two adverbs, one straight after another, in a sentence? The answer is yes, it is. There are many occasions when we might want to do this. Take a look at these examples.
‘Alisha walked very quickly to get home out of the rain.’
‘The cat purred quietly, but she could still be heard.’
‘The teacher spoke extremely seriously to the troublemakers.’
‘The time passed painfully slowly while the children waited for the bell to ring.’
We can see from these examples how using two adverbs of manner in a row adds meaning, giving us more information to help us picture the scene when we’re reading. It’s an effective way to strengthen a particular point the author wants to make. We can use this technique in our writing to build tension and keep the reader interested.
