Is the word badly an adverb

Asked by: Prof. Glenda Considine

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Bad or Badly

Bad is an adjective used with linking verbs such as feel, seem, be, look, etc. Incorrect: I feel badly that he is not taking part in the game. Correct: I feel bad that he is not taking part in the game. Badly is an adverb used to modify action verbs.

Is badly a noun or adverb?

Bad is an adjective, so it describes a noun or pronoun. Badly is an adverb so, like all adverbs, it describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Most verbs perform action, but linking verbs are different: they are not performing an action, but are connecting the subject with another word in the sentence.

What word is badly?

badly. / (ˈbædlɪ) / adverb worse or worst. poorly; defectively; inadequatelythe chair is badly made.

Is this an adjective or adverb?

The word “this” can be used for a variety of purposes and contexts. Basically, it can be classified as an adjective, a definite article, a pronoun, or an adverb depending on how it is used. “THIS” can be categorized under adjectives if it is used to describe a noun.

What is the adjective example?

What is an adjective? Adjectives are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns: enormous, doglike, silly, yellow, fun, fast. They can also describe the quantity of nouns: many, few, millions, eleven.

18 related questions found

Proper use of certain English adjective and adverb forms of a word can be elusive because of what they describe. One such pair is bad and badly.

The word bad is an adjective that modifies nouns and pronouns: She was in a bad accident.

The word badly is an adverb that conveys the manner or degree of a verb’s action: She was hurt badly in the accident.

Bad vs. Badly: Why the Mix-Up?

Confusion about the two words typically arises when they accompany the sensory linking verbs taste, look, smell, and feel.

When we use these verbs actively, we should follow them with adverbs. (Hear is always used actively.)

When we use these verbs descriptively, we should follow them with adjectives.

Examples
I feel bad about having said that. (I am not feeling something physically but rather describing something emotionally, so the adjective bad is used.)

She feels badly since her fingers were burned. (She is feeling something physically with her fingers, so the adverb form is used.)

The same interpretations of adjectives and adverbs apply with the other linking verbs mentioned.

Examples
The mask he wore made him look suspicious to the police. (He did not look with his eyes; look describes his appearance so the adjective is used.)
She looked suspiciously at the $100 bill. (Her appearance is not being described; she looked with her eyes so the adverb is needed.)

Because Richard had such a bad cold, all food tasted poor to him. (Poor describes the taste of the food so the adjective is used.)
Richard’s bad cold caused him to taste food poorly. (Poorly modifies the physical tasting of food so the adverb is needed.)

The perfume Janine is wearing smells strong. (Strong describes the perfume so the adjective is used.)
Janine can smell scents so strongly you’d almost think she has a dog’s nose. (Quickly relates to the physical act of smelling so the adverb is needed.)

Bad vs. Badly: A Note on Current-Day Usage

GrammarBook.com aims to maintain distinctions that uphold more-precise usage and meaning in American English. At the same time, we recognize that some resources for style guidance adapt to contemporary tendencies. Merriam-Webster online, for example, currently accepts bad as an informal, colloquial form of badly, thereby making the words interchangeable: “bad: badly (doesn’t want it bad enough).”

The American Heritage Dictionary further explains that the use of badly with want and need was once considered incorrect, since in these cases it means “very much” rather than “in an inferior manner or condition” or “immorally.” Today, however, such usage is prevalent even in formal contexts and so considered standard.

Consequently, we acknowledge that bad and badly can both be used as adverbs with verbs of strong emotion (e.g., want, need) although we prefer differentiating them for greater precision.

Pop Quiz

1. Please don’t feel [bad / badly] about forgetting to call me.
2. Loretta wants the new kitchen-table set [bad / badly].
3. That coyote is looking at us [bad / badly].
4. You probably shouldn’t have baked the cake so long, because it smells really [bad / badly] now.
5. David says his Denver omelet tastes [bad / badly] so he’s going to ask them to make it again.

Pop Quiz Answers

1. Please don’t feel bad about forgetting to call me.
2. Loretta wants the new kitchen-table set bad (or badly).
3. That coyote is looking at us badly.
4. You probably shouldn’t have baked the cake so long, because it smells really bad now.
5. David says his Denver omelet tastes bad so he’s going to ask them to make it again.

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Hello English learners!

Today, I am going to discuss the difference between bad and badly.

Bad is most often used as an adjective. An adjective describes a noun.

The word bad means that something is the opposite of good or it is poor or faulty.

Here are some examples:

• That fruit was bad.
• Her child is bad.
• Too much Nutella is bad for your health.

Now, the word bad may also be used as an adverb, it has the same meaning as badly.

However, this can only be used in informal situations.

For example:

• She wanted the shoes bad enough to make a deal with the devil.

Bad can also be used as a noun.

Remember that a noun is a person, place or thing.

When bad is a noun, it means a bad condition or evil people.

For example:

• My father is sick again. He health seemed to go from bad to worse.
• The bad are always causing trouble in my town.

The word badly is an adverb.

Most of the time, the letters -ly indicate that the word is an adverb.

An adverb is a word that modifies or describes a verb or an adjective. To help you remember the job of an adverb, think that is ADDS to the verb.

The word badly means in an un-liked way or unfavorably. It can also mean very.

Here are some examples:

• This school functions badly.
• During the meeting, his boss spoke badly of him.
• He badly needs English lessons.

The word badly can also be used as an adjective.

In this case, badly means either sick (not in good health) or sorry (I am sorry).

For example:

• After he broke the lamp, the child felt badly about the situation. (He was sorry that he broke the lamp).
• When she ate the seafood, she felt badly. (She was sick after eating the seafood).

Great work! Did you know what we have other useful posts on this website. Check them out to improve your English even more!

Try out your own sentence using bad verses badly in the comments below.

When learning English, it can be difficult to tell the difference between adjectives and adverbs. Many languages use the same word as both an adjective and an adverb; a French person, for instance, might use mal to describe a bad baguette and to say that the baguettes have been burned badly.

In English though, bad and badly are different parts of speech, and careful writing requires their correct use. Continue reading to find out how to choose between these words.

What is the Difference Between Bad and Badly?

In this article, I will compare bad vs badly. I will provide several example sentences to demonstrate how these words look in context.

Then, at the end, I will show you a mnemonic device that makes choosing bad or badly much easier.

When to Use Bad

What does bad mean? Bad is an adjective. Describing something that is not up to acceptable quality standards, bad is the opposite of good.

Adjectives modify nouns by describing their qualities. Bad is a versatile word—children can have bad behavior, a sandwich can have a bad aftertaste, and an athlete can have a bad game. The word is applicable to almost any context.

Here are a few sentence examples,

• “One bad apple can spoil the whole bushel,” warned Old Nance.
• Because our product got almost universally bad reviews at online retailers, we manufactured it in a different color plastic and hired an outside marketing firm to help with rebranding.
• Ten good deeds cannot make up for one bad decision once one’s reputation has been damaged.
• The auto-finance sector has taken a bad turn. An investor update on Tuesday from auto lender Ally Financial, formerly the auto-lending arm of General Motors, added to building evidence that trend lines are negative in the industry. –The Wall Street Journal

Of course, since bad is so versatile, it is also incredibly vague. You should usually try to think of a more specific adjective to use instead.

When to Use Badly

What does badly mean? Badly is an adverb. It describes an action that has been carried out poorly.

Adverbs modify verbs by describing how they have been performed.

For example,

• I scored badly on my ethics exam, and I am now prohibited from practicing law in the state of Kentucky.
• When a pitcher pitches badly, his offense has a lot of work to do to keep the team in the game.
• The onions are badly burned, which gives the entire dish an acrid flavor reminiscent of a grease fire.
• North Carolina got 22 points from Joel Berry II, but as a team shot badly: just 36 percent, with Jackson going 6 for 19 and 0 for 9 from 3 points. –The New York Times

Trick to Remember the Difference

Now, let’s go over a trick to remember badly vs. bad.

Choosing one of these words over the other is very easy since they are different parts of speech.

• If you are using the word as an adjective, simply use bad.

• If you are using the word as an adverb, add the -ly prefix to form the adverb badly.

The telltale -ly is the signal that badly is an adverb. It shares that suffix with many other adverbs, like its synonyms poorly, imperfectly, and shabbily. You can use this suffix as a reminder that badly should always be used as an adverb.

Summary

Is it bad or badly? Bad and badly are two words that describe things that are not up to snuff.

• Bad is an adjective, which means it describes nouns.

• Badly, as an adverb, modifies verbs.

You can use the suffix -ly as a reminder that badly is an adverb, since many other adverbs also end in -ly.

Any time you have a question about confusing words or other writing topics, be sure to check back with Writing Explained. And, if you ever get stuck choosing badly or bad in the future, come back and reference this article.

If you think that telling the difference between bad and badly is freaking easy, this article is a must-read to you. The difference here is more than just the suffix ‘ly’, more than just the difference between an adjective and an adverb.

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Before exploring the difference between bad and badly, we should have a good grasp of each of these words.

1 Bad as an adjective

In general, bad /bæd/ means something ‘not good’. But not everything ‘not good’ can go with bad.

If something is unpleasant and causes you difficulties or harm, it’s bad.

Ex:

• We can’t have a picnic at the park this morning because of the bad weather.
• Can’t imagine that she received bad news from her mom at her birthday.

Sometimes, bad is used to assess the quality of something. If sth is bad, its quality is too low or not acceptable.

Ex:

• Peter’s bad manners ruined his mom’s birthday party.
• The waiters’ attitude was really bad.

In moral aspects, bad goes with people or actions to describe them as evil or unacceptable.

Ex:

• Laura has never done bad things in her life.
• Don’t judge whether a person is good or bad by just basing on how he or she treats you.

You can use bad to describe sth that causes you physical or emotional pain or your experience of it.

Ex:

• The cold weather caused her a bad cough.
• She is no longer able to go mountain-climbing because of her bad legs.

Plus, foods can be bad too. But bad doesn’t mean ‘evil’ here. Instead, it refers to a state of food – being decayed. If food is decayed and not safe to eat anymore, you can use the phrase go/ turn (v) + bad or be/ smell/ taste/ look (v) + bad to describe it.

Ex:  

• The hotter the weather is, the faster the foods go bad.

2 Bad as a noun

When used as a noun, bad /bæd/ is defined as things or events that are not good or are morally wrong. Despite referring to many things, bad is an uncountable noun.

Ex:

• It’s my bad for forgetting to remind you to go to the meeting.

3 Bad as an adverb

Besides being a noun, and an adjective, bad /bæd/is also an adverb. But not as you think, it doesn’t mean ‘in a bad or evil way‘. As an adverb, bad means very much. We use bad to emphasize the degree/ level of an action or a state of sth.

Ex:   

• What you said to me hurted me so bad.

NOTE

In American English, bad is only used as an adjective.

Badly

Badly /ˈbæd.li/ is the adverb form of bad (a). So you can somehow guess the meanings of badly based on its relation with bad (a).

You can define badly as in a way that is bad. But to be more specific, badly means in a severe or harmful way; in a way that is not acceptable; in a way that is not of good quality.

Ex:

• She was badly injured in the accident.

• The event was badly organized.

• I can’t believe Roger behaved so badly like that.

In addition, badly has another meaning that doesn’t relate to bad, which is very much.

Ex:

• The organization is badly in need for volunteers.

Difference between Bad and Badly

1 Word class

Bad is mostly used as an adjective, while badly is an adverb. The difference between bad and badly in word class literally leads to differences in meanings and roles in a sentence between bad and badly.

• Bad (a): before nouns, after nouns, after linking verbs, etc.
• Badly (adv): before adjectives, after verbs (in active voice), before verbs (in passive voice), etc.

Note

When used as an adverb, bad is informal for badly, but it has the only meaning of very much. Furthermore, bad can only be used in active voice, while badly is used in both active and passive voice.

Ex:

• I want that car so bad.

= I want that car so badly.

• She was badly injured in the accident.

= She was bad injured in the accident.

2 When being after linking verbs ‘taste, look, smell, and feel’

Taste, look, smell and feel are 4 in a large number of verbs that can be both stative and action verbs. However, there are only 4 of them entering our discussion as they can go with bad and badly (this is the collocation matter).

Both bad and badly are used after taste, look, smell and feel, but they express different meanings. This part confuses most of us when trying to tell the difference between bad and badly.

Firstly, let’s start with these 2 examples:

• I feel bad about having to say this.
• He feels badly towards himself as he thinks people underestimate him.

Do you spot the difference between bad and badly? Why do I use feel bad in the first example instead of feel badly, and vice versa?

Here’s the answer you are looking for:

• In the first example:
  • Feel (v) is used with the meaning of to experience something emotional to express the feeling of the subject – a bad feeling.
  • With this meaning, feel plays as a role of a stative verb. And we cannot follow a stative verb with an adverb (obviously an adverb cannot describe a state of sth), so we choose bad.
• In the second example:
  • Feel (v) is used with the meaning of to have a particular opinion or attitude towards something.
  • We can easily tell from the meaning that feel is not a stative verb in this case, as it doesn’t express a state of anything. In this example, feel is an action verb. And only an adverb can follow an action verb, so we choose badly.
  • A more easy-to-understand explanation about why we use feel badly instead of feel bad is the structure ‘feel bad about sth’, not ‘feel bad towards sth’. So we choose badly in this case.

But how to tell whether feel/ taste/ look/ smell is a stative verb or an action verb in a specific sentence? Well, the only way is to make sure that you understand the meanings of these words in the concepts of the sentences.

In conclusion, in order to know whether to use bad or badly after feel/ taste/ smell/ look, we need to know if it is a stative verb or an action verb:

Self-check quiz

Before skipping this blog, you should spend a little amount of time to do these 5 quizzes as a quick revision for what you have learned, and also to better understand the difference between bad and badly.

Choose the correct word: bad or badly?

1. I feel bad/ badly towards his point of view.
2. This dish tastes really bad/ badly.
3. I feel the breeze bad/ badly as my skin is really insensitive.
4. To my opinion, Vietnamese shrimp paste smells really bad/ badly.
5. The model looks bad/ badly in that outfit.

Key:

1. badly
2. bad
3. badly
4. bad
5. bad

Did you answer it all correctly? Don’t worry if you didn’t score 5/5 as it’s just a self-check exercise. You can scroll up to make a revision and scroll down to do the quizzes again. If you want to find out more confusing words in English like bad and badly, download this free Confusing words ebook of eJOY.

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