Test your knowledge with free interactive questions on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

Suffixes - 'ly'

Suffixes are letters or words placed at the end of words which change their meaning. When we add '-ly' to adjectives, they become adverbs, which are words that describe verbs. Let's look at some examples of words ending in 'ly'...

Suffixes - 'ly'

You have already learnt that adding '-ly' to the end of adjectives turns them into adverbs. But there are some exceptions you need to know about. Let's look at these exceptions...

Exception 1 - '__y__' ending

Exception 1 - 'y' ending

  • If the root word ends in a ‘y’, this is changed to an ‘i’.
    • Happily (happy).
    • Angrily (angry).
Exception 2 - '__le__' ending

Exception 2 - 'le' ending

  • If the root word ends ‘le’, it is changed to ‘ly’.
    • Gently (gentle).
    • Simply (simple).
Exception 3 - '__ic__' ending

Exception 3 - 'ic' ending

  • If the root word ends ‘ic’, then ‘ally’ is added instead of ‘ly’.
    • Dramatically (dramatic).
    • Frantically (frantic).
Jump to other topics
1

Reading

2

Writing

2.1

Composition

2.2

Conjunctions

2.3

Present Perfect Tense

2.4

Nouns

2.5

Fronted Adverbials

2.6

Direct Speech

2.7

Homophones

2.8

Spelling Rules

2.9

Using Apostrophes

2.10

Using a Dictionary

Practice questions on Suffixes: '-ly'

Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

  1. 1
    What are __adverbs__?Multiple choice
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
Answer all questions on Suffixes: '-ly'

Unlock your full potential with Seneca Premium

  • Unlimited access to 10,000+ open-ended exam questions

  • Mini-mock exams based on your study history

  • Unlock 800+ premium courses & e-books

Get started with Seneca Premium