Forming Adverbs from Adjectives

Here are some guidelines on forming adverbs from adjectives:

1.     In a large number of the cases, the adverb can be formed by simply adding ‘-ly’ to the adjective.

ADJECTIVE	ADVERB
Cheap	Cheaply
Quick	Quickly
Strong	Strong

2.     If the adjective ends in with ‘y’, replace the ‘y’ with an ‘i’ and add ‘-ly’.

ADJECTIVE	ADVERB
Ready	Readily
Merry	Merrily
Easy	Easily

3.     If the adjective ends with ‘-le’, replace the ‘e’ at the end with ‘y’.

ADJECTIVE	ADVERB
Understandable	Understandably
Forcible	Forcibly
Possible	Possibly

4.     If the adjective ends with ‘-ic’, add ‘-ally’.

ADJECTIVE	ADVERB
Idiotic	Idiotically
Tragic	Tragically
Basic	Basically

An exception to this rule is ‘public’, whose adverbial form is ‘publicly’.

5.     Some adjectives do not change form at all.

ADJECTIVE	ADVERB
Fast	Fast
Straight	Straight
Hard	Hard

6.     In the case of the adjective ‘good’, the corresponding adverb is ‘well’.