8.01 -ly as adverb suffix

Rule: Most adverbs end in -ly. In some cases, the suffix is optional.

Examples of errors:

1. Thirty years ago the price for nuclear energy was terrible high, too.
2. I like relative new American and French films.
3. In Mainz there are big parades with funny clothed people.
4. These people probably feel double depressed.
5. Another problem is the coldness of our nein-built cities.
6. The number of bad treated children is very high.
7. The people celebrated frolicsome.
8. I'm not sure I should be political active.
9. He began to walk around aimless.
10. The next step is to hear selective, in terms of sounds that are important for the child.
11. On the first day of the semester people run excited from one class to another.
12. There man's role is defined much clearer.
13. He should say this as clearly and correct as he can.
14. They move to the country and try to live anonymous.
15. He behaves rather quiet.
16. My main problems in English lie on the productive side. Here lack of fluency must be mentioned firstly.
17. I firstly would ask them if they want to play.

It must be remembered, first of all, that adverbs modify adjectives (cf. (1)-(6)), verbs (cf. (7)-(15)), other adverbs, or a whole sentence or clause (cf. (16)(17)). They are thus opposed to adjectives and other modifiers of nouns, although sometimes the adjective and adverb forms of a word (particularly monosyllables) are the same, or--more often--are derivable from each other by the omission or deletion of the adverbial suffix -lv. Words that have identical forms as adjectives and adverbs include: high, low, near, far, fast, hard, early, late, a lot (or much), little, quick, slow, loud, cheap, clear, etc. For example:

This is a fast train. (adjective)

This train goes fast. (adverb)

Some of these words (slow, quick, loud, cheap, clear, etc.) also have forms in -1y which have the same meaning as the non-suffixed form and are preferred by some speakers:

This train goes slow/slowly

He talks too loud/loudly

In the case of first and firstly, many speakers prefer to use first to introduce a sequence or list of things, even though subsequently one might say secondly, thirdly, lastly. Furthermore, unlike first, firstly must occur at or near the beginning of the sentence and be separated from it by punctuation (comma) and intonation. Compare with (16) and (17):

Firstly,/First, lack of fluency must be mentioned.

I would ask them, firstly,/first, if they want to play.

The majority of adverbs can be derived from a corresponding adjective by the addition of -ly (with the appropriate spelling changes); e.g. terrible-terribly (cf. (1)), relative-relatively (cf. (2)), etc. Not all adjectives ending in -some have adverbial derivatives, however. Compare with (7): *burdensomely, *bothersomely, *toothsomely, but handsomely, wholesomely loathesomely. Funnily (cf. (3)) would not be acceptable to all speakers (but cf. the expression funnily enough). When in doubt, a general rule of thumb is to use the -ly suffix if the word--particularly a polysyllabic one--has an adverbial function, since the number of adjectives (like frolicsome) that are not convertible to adverbs in this way is relatively small.