B3. Country roads

adverbs of manner

Henry Kilburn loved fast cars. One day he looked out of the window and saw that the sun was shining brightly.
   ‘It’s a good day for a drive in the country,’ he said to himself, happily.
So he set off in his shiny red sports car and turned on the radio. He started singing loudly to one of his favourite tunes and he put his foot down on the accelerator. The car was moving quickly through the countryside, when he went over the top of a hill and saw another car moving towards him. The woman in the car was driving very slowly, and she was honking her car horn.
   As Henry passed her, she rolled the car window down, put her head out and shouted loudly, ‘Pig! Pig!’
   ‘Ridiculous,’ Henry thought to himself angrily, ‘I know I’m driving fast, but I’m driving carefully. Just because I'm driving fast, it doesn't mean I'm driving badly.’
   ‘Stupid cow!’ he shouted at her out of his window and drove away even faster.
   Around the next corner he crashed his car into a pig.

Grammar: adverbs of manner

Adverbs of manner describe the way you do something. In the same way as adjectives can describe a noun, adverbs can describe a verb. Many adverbs are formed with adjective + -ly.

adjective + noun	adverb + verb
It was a quick meal.	We ate quickly.
She is a careful driver.	She drives carefully.
He’s a bad tennis player.	He plays tennis badly.
It was an easy exam.	I answered the questions easily.

There are some irregular adverbs which do not end in –ly:

Cathy is a good cook.	Cathy cooks very well.
It was a fast car.	He drove very fast.
It was hard work.	We worked very hard.

Adjective or adverb? Choose the correct word to complete these sentences.

1.   Helen plays the piano very good / well.
2.   Our suitcases weren’t very heavy / heavily so we didn’t need a luggage trolley.
3.   It was a beautiful morning and the sun was shining bright / brightly.
4.   You didn’t do bad / badly in the last exam, but I think you can do better.
5.   Please be careful / carefully with those glasses. They are quite valuable.
6.   I can’t believe how noisy / noisily your dog eats.
7.   We arrived in plenty of time to buy our tickets and we caught the train easy / easily.
8.   I thought that the questions in the test were ridiculous / ridiculously easy.
9.   My brother gets very angry / angrily when people tell him to slow down.
10. Haven’t you finished yet? You eat very slow / slowly!

Vocabulary exercises

Choose the correct verb to complete these sentences. Use the past simple form.

crash           turn       set             honk           roll

1.   It was a warm day so I ________ down the car window
2. Susie ________ on the radio to listen to the traffic news.
3.   The car went off the road and ________ into a wall
4.   On Tuesday morning the group ________ off on their journey.
5.   Jack ________ his car horn to warn the other driver about the accident.

Choose the correct preposition to complete these sentences.

6.   The petrol station was for / at / to the top of the hill.
7. Fred put his foot down on the accelerator pedal and drove on / in / into even faster.
8.   The police car was moving quickly onto / along / towards the building.
9.   When you drive on / around / into the corner, you can see a large farmhouse.
10. When I go on long journeys I often sing along to a tune at / to / on the radio.

ANSWERS