English Grammar in Use With Answers » Unit 100: Adjectives and adverbs 1 (quick/quickly)

Look at these examples:
  • Our holiday was too short- the time passed very quickly.
  • Two people were seriously injured in the accident.

Quickly and seriously are adverbs. Many adverbs are formed from an adjective + -ly:

adjectiveadverb
quickquickly
senousseriously
carefulcarefully
quietquietly
heavyheavily
badbadly

For spelling, see Appendix 6.

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 (somebody or something). We use adjectives before nouns:
  • Sam is a careful driver. (not a carefully driver)
  • We didn't go out because of the heavy rain.
Adverbs (quickly/carefully etc.) tell us about a verb (how somebody does something or how something happens):
  • Sam drove carefully along the narrow road. (not drove careful)
  • We didn't go out because it was raining heavily. (not raining heavy)
Compare:
  • She speaks perfect English.
    perfect English: adjective + noun
  • She speaks English perfectly.
    speaks English perfectly: verb + noun + adverb
We also use adjectives after some verbs, especially be, and also look/feel/sound etc.
Compare:
  • Please be quiet.
  • I was disappointed that my exam results were so bad.
  • Why do you always look so serious?
  • I feel happy.
  • Please speak quietly.
  • I was unhappy that I did so badly in the exam. (not did so bad)
  • Why do you never take me seriously?
  • The children were playing happily.

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.
  • I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to push you. (not terrible sorry)
  • Maria learns languages incredibly quickly.
  • The exam 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 badly organised.

100.1 Put in the correct word.

  1. Two people were ______ injured in the accident. (serious / seriously)
    • serious
    • seriously
  2. The driver of the car had ______ injuries. (serious / seriously)
    • serious
    • seriously
  3. I think you behaved very ______ (selfish / selfishly)
    • selfish
    • selfishly
  4. Tanya is ______ upset about losing her job. (terrible / terribly)
    • terrible
    • terribly
  5. There was a ______ change in the weather. (sudden / suddenly)
    • sudden
    • suddenly
  6. Everybody at the carnival was ______ dressed. (colourful / colourfully)
    • colourful
    • colourfully
  7. Linda usually wears ______ clothes. (colourful / colourfully)
    • colourful
    • colourfully
  8. Liz fell and hurt herself really ______ . (bad / badly)
    • bad
    • badly
  9. joe says he didn't do well at school because he was ______ taught. (bad / badly)
    • bad
    • badly
  10. Don't go up that ladder. It doesn't look ______ . (safe / safely)
    • safe
    • safely

100.2 Complete each sentence using a word from the box. 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(ly)
  1. Our holiday was too short. The time passed very .
  2. Steve doesn't take risks when he's driving. He's always __________ .
  3. Sue works __________ . She never seems to stop.
  4. Rachel and Patrick are very __________ married.
  5. Maria'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 exams?
  10. I'd like to buy a car, but it's __________ impossible for me at the moment.

100.3 Choose two words (one from each box) to complete each sentence.

  • absolutely
  • badly
  • completely
  • reasonably
  • seriously
  • slightly
  • unnecessarily
  • unusually
  • changed
  • cheap
  • damaged
  • enormous
  • ill
  • long
  • planned
  • quiet
  1. I thought the restaurant would be expensive, but it was .
  2. Will'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 movie was __________ . It could have been much shorter.
  8. A lot went wrong during our holiday because it was __________ .

Answer Key
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