Adverbs modify adjectives, verbs, other adverbs, and even entire sentences, describing how something is done or how something is the way it is. Previously, we have looked at adverbs of frequency, which denote how often something occurs. Today, we'll look at adverbs of manner, which help us express how an action occurs. Most adverbs of manner end in "-ly" or "-ily."

banner6 PLACEHOLDER

The adjectives "quick," "desperate," and "accurate" may be familiar to you. But here, what is being described is not a person or thing, but instead the verbs "to clear," "to try," and "to represent."

And the skies above the canyon quickly clear again.

Caption 34, America's National Parks: Grand Canyon

 Play Caption

The royal couple tried desperately to wake her.

Caption 39, Fairy Tales: Sleeping Beauty

 Play Caption

Did you know that according to a survey, over sixty percent of employers don't think CVs represent applicants accurately?

Captions 47-49, Business Life: Curriculum Vitae

 Play Caption

You may have noticed that adjectives that end with an "-e" simply get the "-ly" tacked onto the end anyway. This is also the case with adjectives that end in "-ful" or "-less."

English speakers like to greet each other by cheerfully stating the time of day.

Captions 14-15, English with Annette O'Neil: Ways to Say Hello

 Play Caption

As you can see, it's very beautifully decorated.

Caption 8, Christmas in London: Places

 Play Caption

It can walk on almost every terrain effortlessly.

Caption 8, Evolution: On Land

 Play Caption

Seasons moving endlessly.

Caption 25, Justin James: A Beautiful Life

 Play Caption

When an adjective ends with a "-y," like "happy" or "easy," it's customary to replace it with "-ily" in the adverb form. Let's have a look: 

Rapunzel happily accepted this handsome prince's proposal.

Caption 34, Fairy Tales: Rapunzel

 Play Caption

This red deer is not red at all, and will be easily singled out by predators.

Caption 50, BBC Planet: Wild Alien Animals

 Play Caption

Further Learning
You can find many adverbs on Yabla English to see them used in a variety of different contexts. You can also write a list of ten adjectives and look up their related adverb.

English, like many languages, uses a lot of idioms referring to animals. You may have heard the English expression "as hungry as a horse" (very hungry) or "monkey see, monkey do" (when somebody copies somebody else). What these expressions have in common in all languages is that they refer to some quality that is associated with a specific animal in that culture: Horses eat a lot of food and monkeys can be mimics—always compared to humans, of course. Let's take a look today at some English animal expressions.

All of the sudden, one of the orcas made a beeline in this direction.

Caption 2, National Geographic: WILD Killer Whale vs. Great White Shark

 Play Caption

banner PLACEHOLDER

Similar to the English expression "as the crow flies"—meaning the fastest way between two points is a straight line—the phrase "to make a beeline" means "to go quickly" or "to go directly." Speaking of bees:

Leave me the birds and the bees.

Caption 21, Counting Crows with Vanessa Carlton: Big Yellow Taxi

 Play Caption

The phrase "to know about the birds and the bees" means "to have received education about sex," but it is often used as a general metaphor for sex. And now we're on to birds:

I killed two birds with one stone!

Caption 36, English: Common Phrases

 Play Caption

This expression fortunately has nothing to do with actually killing any poor birds, but means "to get two (or more) things done at once." There's also another somewhat similar idiom, "better a bird in the hand than two in the bush." This means it is better to actually have something real than risk losing it by trying to get something better. Speaking of birds again:

Well if he wants to play chicken, this rooster ain't backing down.

Caption 15, How I Met Your Mother: The Perfect Cocktail

 Play Caption

The phrase "to play chicken" means to play a dangerous game to see who is bravest. A famous movie used this as part of its plot: In the film Rebel without a Cause, the actors James Dean and Corey Allen "play chicken" by racing cars towards the edge of a cliff to see who will dare to stay in the car the longest before jumping out. Spoiler alert: it doesn't end well!

At that moment, the witch realized that there was something fishy, and started yelling at her.

Captions 45-46, Fairy Tales: Rapunzel

 Play Caption

The usual expression is "something fishy is going on," and it means that something about a person or a situation is suspicious or not as it appears. It probably comes from the fact that even though a fish at the market may look fine, it smells bad if it is no longer fresh.

Further Learning
Go to Yabla English and study the captions in the videos above to get a better idea of the contexts in which they have been used. You can also go to this site and see some other English phrases that use animals.