Adverbs of Manner Worksheet (With Answer Key)

A printable worksheet on adverbs of manner, in five parts, with a full answer key at the end. It moves from recognising adverbs to forming them, then to the two things learners get wrong most often: choosing between the adjective and the adverb, and putting the adverb in the wrong place.

If you want the rules first, read the guide to adverbs of place for how adverbs behave in a sentence, or why verbs have no adverb forms if that question came up in class.

Part A — Find the adverb of manner

Underline the adverb of manner in each sentence. One sentence has none.

1. She closed the door quietly.
2. The team played badly in the first half.
3. He answered every question honestly.
4. They arrived yesterday.
5. The old machine started reluctantly.
6. Sara solved the puzzle easily.

Part B — Form the adverb

Write the adverb formed from each adjective. Watch the spelling – four of these change more than just the ending.

Part C — Adjective or adverb?

Choose the correct word.

1. He drives very (careful / carefully).
2. The soup tastes (good / well).
3. She sings (beautiful / beautifully).
4. The children were (quiet / quietly) all afternoon.
5. They worked (hard / hardly) to finish on time.
6. I can (hard / hardly) hear you.

Part D — Where does it go?

Rewrite each sentence, putting the adverb in brackets in a correct position. More than one answer is possible for some.

1. She opened the letter. (slowly)
2. He explained the rule to the class. (patiently)
3. The dog waited at the gate. (obediently)
4. They accepted the offer. (gratefully)

Part E — Correct the mistake

Each sentence contains one error. Rewrite it correctly.

1. He speaks English fluent.
2. She sang lovely at the concert.
3. The mechanic fixed quickly the engine.
4. They finished the work wholely.
5. He walked clumsyly across the stage.

Answer key

Part A. 1. quietly   2. badly   3. honestly   4. none – yesterday is an adverb of time, not manner   5. reluctantly   6. easily

Part B. quick → quickly  |  happy → happily  |  gentle → gently  |  whole → wholly  |  careful → carefully  |  shy → shyly  |  true → truly  |  cool → coolly

The four to watch: whole and true drop their e; shy keeps its y because it has only one syllable; cool ends in l, so the adverb has two.

Part C. 1. carefully   2. good – taste is a linking verb here, so it takes an adjective   3. beautifully   4. quiet – were is a linking verb   5. hard   6. hardly – note that hardly means barely, not “in a hard way”

Part D. Sample answers. 1. She slowly opened the letter or She opened the letter slowly. 2. He patiently explained the rule to the class or He explained the rule to the class patiently. 3. The dog waited obediently at the gate. 4. They gratefully accepted the offer or They accepted the offer gratefully.

In every case the adverb must not sit between the verb and its direct object. He explained patiently the rule is wrong in English, even though the same order is normal in Spanish and French.

Part E. 1. He speaks English fluently. 2. She sang beautifully – lovely is an adjective, and English has no comfortable adverb form of it. 3. The mechanic fixed the engine quickly – the adverb cannot split the verb from its object. 4. They finished the work wholly. 5. He walked clumsily across the stage.