What this rule covers
An adverb of manner tells us HOW an action happens: quietly, quickly, carefully or happily. Most such adverbs in English are formed by adding -ly to an adjective. The adjective describes a noun, as in a quiet street; the adverb describes a verb, as in she walked quietly.
This rule focuses on SPELLING: how to turn an adjective into a correctly spelled adverb ending in -ly. It does not cover where to put the resulting adverb in a sentence or adverbs that do not take -ly at all; those are separate topics. The aim here is to distinguish several similar spelling patterns, each with its own process.
A word’s part of speech depends on its role as well as its spelling: a calm person describes a person’s quality, while speaks calmly describes how an action happens. Not all adverbs end in -ly: fast and hard can function as adverbs without an added ending.
The librarian speaks softly in the reading room.
The librarian speaks softly in the reading room.
Soft, an adjective in a soft voice, becomes softly, an adverb in speaks softly. This is the simplest and most typical pattern.
A calm manager stays calm and explains the plan calmly.
A calm manager stays calm and explains the plan calmly.
Calm is an adjective in calm manager and stays calm, and it is also the base of the adverb calmly. Adding -ly forms the adverb used to describe how the manager explains the plan.
Simply adding -ly
For most adjectives, add -ly at the end without any other change: quick → quickly, slow → slowly, loud → loudly, brave → bravely. Brave keeps its -e because it is not one of the exceptions below. This is the default pattern: use it when the adjective does not follow one of the special patterns that come next.
Pay particular attention to adjectives already ending in one -l: careful, useful, successful, general, final and normal. When -ly is added, the original l neither disappears nor needs an extra doubling rule. It simply sits beside the l of -ly, producing -ll-: careful + ly = carefully, general + ly = generally. Writing only one l, as in carefuly, is a common error because the spelling difference is not always audible.
adjective + -ly = adverb, with no other changes
- adjective —
- A word describing what someone or something is like: happy, tired, interesting.
- adverb —
- A word adding information about an action, quality or circumstance: slowly, very, often.
The pilot landed the plane smoothly despite the strong wind.
The pilot landed the plane smoothly despite the strong wind.
Smooth + ly = smoothly, with no change to the base spelling.
The manager listened to every complaint thoughtfully before replying.
The manager listened to every complaint thoughtfully before replying.
Thoughtful already ends in -l, so thoughtfully is spelled with -ll-.
The results were finally confirmed by two independent labs.
The results were finally confirmed by two independent labs.
Final + ly = finally: the same two-l result as in thoughtfully.
Adjectives ending in a consonant + -y
When an adjective ends in a consonant letter followed by -y, as in happy, easy, angry, busy and heavy, change the final -y to -i before adding -ly: happy → happily, easy → easily, angry → angrily. Happyly is not a correct spelling.
Short words ending in -y may follow a different pattern: shy → shyly, sly → slyly, coy → coyly. Check a dictionary for a new word: the final letter alone does not guarantee the same change.
consonant + y → consonant + ily
The interns tidied the archive room noisily, dragging boxes across the floor.
The interns tidied the archive room noisily, dragging boxes across the floor.
Noisy → noisily: the y after the consonant s changes to i.
He admitted the mistake shyly and asked for a second chance.
He admitted the mistake shyly and asked for a second chance.
For practical use, remember the usual spelling shyly, retaining y.
Adjectives ending in a consonant + -le
For adjectives ending in a consonant + -le, such as gentle, simple, terrible, possible and comfortable, remove the final -e and add only -y: gentle → gently, simple → simply, terrible → terribly. Do not add the whole ending -ly, which would produce -lely; add only -y after the l already present.
The same pattern applies to longer words: comfortable → comfortably, reasonable → reasonably.
consonant + le → consonant + ly, without e
The coach corrected her posture gently, without making her feel embarrassed.
The coach corrected her posture gently, without making her feel embarrassed.
Gentle → gently: the final -e disappears and only -y is added.
The offer sounded reasonably fair, so the tenants agreed to sign.
The offer sounded reasonably fair, so the tenants agreed to sign.
Reasonable → reasonably follows the same pattern in a longer word.
Adjectives ending in -e
Most adjectives ending in -e, except those with the consonant + -le ending above, simply retain the -e and add -ly: nice → nicely, safe → safely, sincere → sincerely, extreme → extremely. Distinguish this from the -le pattern: there, -e is removed from the consonant + -le ending; here, it remains as the final letter of the adjective.
Common exceptions are true → truly, due → duly and whole → wholly. The final e disappears in these words; adding -ly to whole also produces ll. Keeping the e in true would give the incorrect spelling truely.
nice → nicely: keep e; but true → truly: exceptionally, drop e
The assistant filed every document precisely, in strict alphabetical order.
The assistant filed every document precisely, in strict alphabetical order.
Precise → precisely: the final -e is retained, as in most words ending in -e.
The volunteers were duly thanked at the closing ceremony.
The volunteers were duly thanked at the closing ceremony.
Due → duly is one of the few exceptions in which -e disappears before -ly.
Adjectives ending in -ic
Adjectives ending in -ic, such as basic, tragic, dramatic, economic and automatic, form adverbs by adding -ally rather than just -ly: basic → basically, dramatic → dramatically. Basicly is not a standard English spelling.
A common exception is public → publicly. Choose publicly for neutral learner writing; publically is less established and is often considered nonstandard.
adjective ending in -ic + -ally; exception: public → publicly
- adjective —
- A word describing what someone or something is like: happy, tired, interesting.
The results were presented systematically, one variable at a time.
The results were presented systematically, one variable at a time.
Systematic → systematically: add -ally to the adjective ending in -ic.
The airline apologised publicly after the flight was cancelled twice.
The airline apologised publicly after the flight was cancelled twice.
Public is an exception among words ending in -ic: publicly, without -al-.
When the adjective already ends in -ly
Friendly, lovely, silly and lonely can be adjectives despite their -ly ending. To describe manner, a phrase such as in a friendly way or in a silly way is often the most natural choice.
Rare adverbs such as friendlily do appear in dictionaries, so they should not be described as impossible. For everyday communication at A2, however, the clear phrase in a … way is a more convenient option.
The new colleague behaved in a friendly way from her very first day.
The new colleague behaved in a friendly way from her very first day.
In a friendly way is a familiar way to describe friendly behaviour; the rare form friendlily is unnecessary here.
He knew the plan sounded silly, but he explained it in a serious way anyway.
He knew the plan sounded silly, but he explained it in a serious way anyway.
Silly remains an adjective, as in a silly plan. The sentence does not form an -ly adverb from silly.
Choosing the right pattern
First check the word’s meaning and role. Adding -ly works for many adjectives. Learn happy → happily, gentle → gently and basic → basically separately, along with the exceptions true → truly, due → duly, whole → wholly and public → publicly.
For friendly and similar adjectives, use a natural phrase such as in a friendly way. If a word is unfamiliar or you are unsure of its form, check the adverb in a dictionary. These patterns are useful guides, not an exception-free algorithm.
The old engine started automatically once the temperature dropped.
The old engine started automatically once the temperature dropped.
Automatic ends in -ic, so the adverb is automatically, not automaticly.
The two neighbours settled the dispute peacefully after a short conversation.
The two neighbours settled the dispute peacefully after a short conversation.
Peaceful already has one final -l, so peacefully is spelled with -ll-.
Common mistakes
Incorrect:She closed the door quietily.
Correct:She closed the door quietly.
Simply add -ly to quiet: quietly, without an extra i.
Incorrect:He answered every question angryly.
Correct:He answered every question angrily.
The adjective ends in a consonant + y, so y changes to i before -ly: angry → angrily. Do not simply keep -y and add -ly.
Incorrect:The nurse lifted the patient gentlely.
Correct:The nurse lifted the patient gently.
For this adjective ending in -le, remove the final -e and add only -y: gentle → gently. Adding the whole ending -ly would incorrectly produce gentlely.
Incorrect:I truely appreciate your help.
Correct:I truly appreciate your help.
The final e in true disappears before -ly: truly.
Incorrect:The committee reviewed the budget carefuly before approving it.
Correct:The committee reviewed the budget carefully before approving it.
Careful already ends in one -l. That letter remains when -ly is added, producing -ll-: careful + ly = carefully.
Incorrect:The machine stopped automaticly.
Correct:The machine stopped automatically.
Add -ally to automatic, which ends in -ic: automatically.
Incorrect:The company spoke publiclly about the recall.
Correct:The company spoke publicly about the recall.
Publicly contains one l: public + ly. The extra l is unnecessary.
Incorrect:She greeted him in friendly a way.
Correct:She greeted him in a friendly way.
The article a comes before the adjective friendly and the noun way: in a friendly way.