Will you read this blog post “quick” or “quickly”? Which word should you use and when? If you’re not sure, then check out our simple guide to what these words mean and how to use them correctly.
Quick (Adjective)
“Quick” is an adjective, so we use it to modify nouns. Its main use is to describe something that happens at speed or in a short amount of time:
The following morning, we had a quick chat about the incident.
I was expecting a quick response.
We can also use it for someone who is fast to think, learn, or react:
Sophie was a quick learner, picking up the new vocabulary in days.
The word “fast” has a similar meaning to “quick” in some cases, but these words are also different in some important ways.
Quickly (Adverb)
The adverb “quickly” means that something happened at speed or without delay. And since it is an adverb, we use this term to modify verbs (i.e., to say how an action is performed):
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We drove quickly to get home before sunset.
I quickly passed the phone to Tom and left the room.
Nowadays, some people use “quick” as an adverb in place of “quickly”:
The book gave tips on how to get rich quick.
This is not usually a problem in everyday conversation, as people will know what you mean. But in formal writing, such as an essay, you should only use “quick” as an adjective and “quickly” as an adverb.
Summary: Quick or Quickly?
These words are similar in that both refer to something being fast or happening in a short amount of time. However, they do have different uses:
- Quick is an adjective, so you should use it to modify nouns.
- Quickly is an adverb, so you should use it to modify verbs.
Hopefully, the difference between these words is now clear. But if you’d like extra help to ensure you have used adjectives and adverbs correctly, why not try proofreading? You’ll find that our service is very quick!
Continue Learning about English Language Arts
They quickly left the room when it became too crowded What is the adjective?
Crowded is the adjective.
Is QUICKLY a noun verb or adjective?
Quickly is an adverb. He walked quickly. (How did he walk?
Quickly—it modifies the verb walked.)
What part of speech is more quickly?
the word quickly is an adverb. The word more is an
adjective.
Is quickly a noun verb adjective or adverb?
The word quickly is an adverb, a word that modifies a verb; for example:We quickly gathered our things when we saw the train approach.
What form of speech is very?
Very can be an adjective, or an adverb.It is an adverb in «She did it very quickly» It is an adjective in «At the very back of the shop»
“Quicker” and “more quickly” seem to highlight the same direction or command in English. It would be helpful to read through this article to find out more about the two forms. We’ll teach you all the differences you need to know.
What Is The Difference Between “Quicker” And “More Quickly”?
“Quicker” is the comparative adjective we use to show that something is “quick” compared to another thing. “More quickly” is a comparative adverb because “quickly” is an adverbial form. They are both correct, and their meanings are almost identical when we use them.
The only real difference comes from the adjective and adverb forms. It’s common to describe someone or something as “quick” when you expect them to move fast.
However, we typically use “quickly” to describe an action because it’s an adverb. Though there are plenty of informal cases where “quick” also works as an adverb, so the two words overlap.
If you’re not sure what the difference between an adjective and an adverb is, you can refer to the following:
- Adjective: I am quicker than her.
- Adverb: You move more quickly than I thought.
The adjective works to describe someone or something, while the adverb works to modify a verb (in this example, we modify “move”).
Is “More Quickly” Grammatical Correct?
It might help to learn a little bit more about “more quickly” and whether it’s correct to use.
“More quickly” is grammatically correct. “Quickly” is an adverb, and we can use it to compare two things based on which thing is moving “quickly” compared to the other. “More” works as the comparative form here because “quickly” is two syllables.
Remember, adverbs work to modify verbs in sentences. Therefore, it’s appropriate to use “more quickly” when we are accompanying it with another verb. For example, you’ll want to use “move more quickly” or “go more quickly” since they both have verbs present.
The standard rule to follow when using the comparative form is to include an “-er” ending after a word if it’s only one syllable. We are working with two syllables in the case of “quickly,” so it’s more common to write “more” before it.
When Should I Use “More Quickly”?
These examples should help you to understand more about it:
- I would like for us to be going more quickly. Do you think you can handle that?
- You should be doing this more quickly! I don’t have time to wait around for you.
- If you move more quickly, you’re more likely to get to the end of your day and get the chance to go home.
- There is no need to move more quickly now. I’m going as quick as I can, and that’s okay.
- I should try this more quickly to make sure I can get it done on time.
- Would you get here more quickly? I can’t keep waiting around at an empty table.
- I need you here more quickly than you’re estimated arrival time.
“More quickly” is an adverbial comparison. We use it when we are modifying a verb in the sentence (i.e. “move more quickly”). It works to show that the current speed of the verb isn’t “quick” enough for our liking.
When Should I Use “Quicker”?
And here are some examples to show you how “quicker” might work:
- If you’re not willing to move any quicker, maybe we should just call it a day!
- I think you can go quicker than that! You should keep trying until you figure it out.
- Are you not able to go quicker? That’s a bit ridiculous! I think you have a chance.
- Being quicker isn’t always being better! You need to know when to go slow to win races like this.
- I wish I could be quicker! Then maybe more people would be happy to look up to my prowess.
- She’s quicker at getting her homework done than me! I like to be thorough, though.
- You’re not going to be quicker than him forever! One of these days, he’s going to beat you!
“Quicker” is a comparative adjective. We can use it to compare two things with each other to determine which one is “quicker” than the other. This is all about time and speed, and it allows us to make a comparison whenever it’s used.
Is “More Quickly” Or “Quicker” Used The Most?
Perhaps you’d be interested to see some statistics to see which of the two words is more common.
According to Google Ngram Viewer, “quicker” is the more popular choice of the two. However, there isn’t much difference between them overall, and there are still plenty of written cases where the comparative adverb “more quickly” is also used.
You might also notice that “more quickly” was briefly the more popular choice toward the end of the 1900s. This shows that both forms are correct and recognized by native speakers, so you usually won’t go wrong no matter which one you choose to use.
Is It Ever Correct To Use “Quicklier”?
It might help to see whether we can combine the comparative adjective rules for the adverb “more quickly.”
“Quicklier” is never correct. Remember, we use “more” when an adjective or adverb is longer than one syllable. We only use the “-er” ending when the word is one syllable. Therefore, “quicklier” is never going to be correct, and you should avoid using it.
There are no exceptions to this. If you’re going to use either of the words in this article, you can only use “quicker” or “more quickly.” There are no combinations between the two that work.
Is “More Quick” Correct?
Finally, we need to look at how comparative adjective rules work.
“More quick” is not correct. When writing with one-syllable adjectives, we always make sure to add an “-er” ending to the word if we’re changing it into the comparative form. We do not add “more” to the beginning of the adjective until it is two or more syllables in length.
These examples will remind you of that fact:
- Correct: I want to be quicker next time.
- Incorrect: Can you be more quick?
- Correct: I should have been quicker than her!
- Incorrect: I don’t know how to be more quick!
You may also like: “Quicker” vs. “Faster” – Difference Explained (+Examples)
Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here.
Posted on: 10-14-2014
I post a daily Grammar Challenge on my Facebook page. It’s fun and gets lots of comments. The nice folks that post their answers are more grammatically astute than most people and it’s tough to stump them. Sometimes, however, I am surprised to find that a question I think will be easy turns out to be a real poser.
That happened recently with the following fill-in-the-blank question:
The correct answer is A: fast. But a surprising number of challenge-takers said C. A number of them suggested that quickly would be correct or preferred to either fast or fastly. There were even a handful who wrote “I would probably say A, but I bet B is the right answer.”
I predict that if I asked the broader populace about this, the great majority would have chosen the right answer — fast — without a moment’s hesitation. It’s only the grammar-conscious minority that struggle with it.
Why do grammar nerds feel uncomfortable with using fast as a simple adverb? I suspect it’s because we are so used to such adverbs ending in ly. We wouldn’t say…
- Don’t eat your hot dog so greedy.
- Don’t eat your hot dog so sloppy.
- Don’t eat your hot dog so sad.
We’d say…
- Don’t eat your hot dog so greedily.
- Don’t eat your hot dog so sloppily.
- Don’t eat your hot dog so sadly.
Fast Is Fine
It just sounds right when obvious adverbs end in ly. When they don’t, we get nervous about our grammatical correctness.
Most common adjectives have adverb forms that end in ly. But not all of them. There are a handful of often-used adjectives with identical adverb forms. Fast is among them. Others include soon, hard, tough, and far. Fastly simply doesn’t exist in the English lexicon. There’s no explanation for this. Fast is just an exception.
And this isn’t some recent-and-therefore-suspicious evolution in language. It has always been okay to use fast as an adverb. In fact, according to the Oxford English Dictionary the use of fast (meaning “with speed”) as an adverb predates its use as an adjective. The first recorded adverbial use of fast goes back to 1275 and there are examples in published works in every century since.
A quick look at an Ngram Viewer shows (to my surprise) that fast has been consistently used as an adverb more often than as an adjective since at least 1800:
What About Quickly?
Quickly is a fine word. It is synonymous with fast in most current uses. But it is not the adverb form of fast. Fast is the adverb form of fast. You may choose to use quickly if you like, but don’t choose it because you think it is somehow more “correct” than fast.
So, go ahead do things fast if you like. If anyone questions the grammatical soundness of such a usage — send them to this blog post!
*****
Get your comments down there in the reply section fast!
Categories: Fun with Words, Grammar and Usage Tags: adverbs, fast, fastly, grammar, grammar challenge, quickly
Look at these examples:
* Our holiday was too short — the time went very quickly.
* The driver of the car was seriously injured in the accident.
Quickly and seriously are adverbs. Many adverbs are made from an adjective + -1y:
adjective: quick serious careful quiet heavy bad
adverb: quickly seriously carefully quietly heavily badly
Not all words ending in -ly are adverbs. Some adjectives end in -ly too, for example:
friendly lively elderly lonely silly lovely
Adjective or adverb?
Adjectives (quick/careful etc.) tell us about a noun. We use adjectives before nouns and after some verbs, especially be:
* Tom is a careful driver. (not ‘a carefully driver’)
* We didn’t go out because of the heavy rain.
* Please be quiet.
* I was disappointed that my exam results were so bad.
We also use adjectives after the verbs look/feel/sound etc. (see Unit 98D):
* Why do you always look so serious?
Adverbs (quickly/carefully etc.) tell us about a verb. An adverb tells us how somebody does something or how something happens:
* Tom drove carefully along the narrow road. (not ‘drove careful’)
* We didn’t go out because it was raining heavily. (not ‘raining heavy’)
* Please speak quietly. (not ‘speak quiet’)
* I was disappointed that I did so badly in the exam. (not ‘did so bad’)
Why do you never take me seriously?
Compare:
* She speaks perfect English. (adjective + noun)
* She speaks English perfectly. (verb + object + adverb)
Compare these sentences with look:
* Tom looked sad when I saw him. (= he seemed sad, his expression was sad)
* Tom looked at me sadly. (= he looked at me in a sad way)
We also use adverbs before adjectives and other adverbs. For example:
reasonably cheap (adverb + adjective)
terribly sorry (adverb + adjective)
incredibly quickly (adverb + adverb)
* It’s a reasonably cheap restaurant and the food is extremely good.
* Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I didn’t mean to push you. (not ‘terrible sorry’)
* Maria learns languages incredibly quickly.
* The examination was surprisingly easy.
You can also use an adverb before a past participle (injured/organised/written etc.)
* Two people were seriously injured in the accident. (not ‘serious injured’)
* The meeting was very badly organised.
EXERCISES
99.1 Complete the sentences with adverbs. The first letter(s) of each adverb are given.
1. We didn’t go out because it was raining _heavily._
2. Our team lost the game because we played very ba—.
3. I had little difficulty finding a place to live. I found a flat quite ea—.
4. We had to wait for a long time but we didn’t complain. We waited pa—.
5. Nobody knew George was coming to see us. He arrived unex—.
6. Mike keeps fit by playing tennis reg—.
99.2 Put in the right word.
1. The driver of the car was _seriously_ injured. (serious/seriously)
2. The driver of the car had serious_ injuries. (serious/seriously)
3. I think you behaved very —. (selfish/selfishly)
4. Rose is — I upset about losing her job. (terrible/terribly)
5. There was a — change in the weather. (sudden/suddenly)
6. Everybody at the party was — dressed. (colourful/colourfully)
7. Linda likes wearing — clothes. (colourful/colourfully)
8. She fell and hurt herself quite —.(bad/badly)
9. He says he didn’t do well at school because he was — taught. (bad/badly)
10. Don’t go up that ladder. It doesn’t look —. (safe/safely)
11. He looked at me — when I interrupted him. (angry/angrily)
99.3 Complete each sentence using a word from the list. Sometimes you need the adjective (careful etc.) and sometimes the adverb (carefully etc.).
careful(ly) complete(ly) continuous(ly) financial(ly) fluent(ly) happy/happily nervous(ly) perfect(ly) quick(ly) special(1y)
1. Our holiday was too short. The time passed very _quickly._
2. Tom doesn’t take risks when he’s driving. He’s always —.
3. Sue works — She never seems to stop.
4. Alice and Stan are very — married.
5. Monica’s English is very — although she makes quite a lot of mistakes.
6. I cooked this meal — for you, so I hope you like it.
7. Everything was very quiet. There was — silence.
8. I tried on the shoes and they fitted me —.
9. Do you usually feel — before examinations?
10. I’d like to buy a car but it’s — impossible for me at the moment.
99.4 Choose two words (one from each box) to complete each sentence.
absolutely reasonably unusually badly seriously unnecessarily completely slightly
cheap enormous planned badly changed ill quiet damaged long
1. I thought the restaurant would be expensive but it was _reasonably cheap._
2. George’s mother is — in hospital.
3. What a big house! It’s —.
4. It wasn’t a serious accident. The car was only —.
5. The children are normally very lively but they’re — today.
6, When I returned home after 20 years, everything had —.
7. The film was — It could have been much shorter.
8. A lot went wrong during our holiday because it was —.
99.1
2 badly 3 easily 4 patiently
5 unexpectedly 6 regularly
99.2
3 selfishly 4 terribly
5 sudden 6 colourfully
7 colorful 8 badly
9 badly 10 safe
11 angrily
99.3
2 careful 3 continuously
4 happily 5 fluent
6 specially 7 complete
8 perfectly 9 nervous
10 financially/completely
99.4
2 seriously ill
3 absolutely enormous
4 slightly damaged
5 unusually quiet
6 completely changed
7 unnecessarily long
8 badly planned
Ответ:
adjectives-прилагательные
busy-(какой?) — занятый
patient-(какой?) — терпеливый
bad-(какой?) — плохой
В контексте-I’m stressed-я (какой?) — напряженный
adverbs—наречия
quickly-(как?) — быстро
fast-(как?) — быстро
slowly-(как) — медленно
Объяснение:
В предложении прилагательное распознать нетрудно – оно, как правило, отвечает на вопросы «Какой?», «Который?», «Какой именно?».
Например:
“The kind woman gave us a tasty cake.” Женщина какая? Kind (добрая). Пирог какой? Tasty (вкусный).
“The small boy is playing with a new toy.” Прилагательные small (маленький) и new (новый) говорят нам, о котором мальчике и какой именно игрушке идет речь.
наречие отвечает на вопрос «как?» или «насколько?».
Например:
“The pair danced gracefully.” (Пара грациозно танцевала.) Наречие gracefully (грациозно) влияет на глагол to dance (танцевать), в результате чего становится ясно, как именно танцевала пара.
“That man is very strong.” (Тот мужчина очень силен.) В этом предложении наречие very (очень) воздействует на прилагательное strong (сильный) и показывает, как и насколько силен мужчина
запомни:Прилагательное воздействует на существительное, а наречие на глаголы, прилагательные и др. наречия
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#1
Hi, everyone. I have a question about the comparative «quickly» and «early.»
I’ve read some other threads about similar topics, but I am still confused.
I make some sentences here.
1. The earlier I go to bed, the earlier I get up in the morning,
2. The more quickly I walk, the more quickly she walks.
I think here both early and quickly are adverb.
Yet, why can’t we use quicklier?
And, why can’t we use more early?
Thank you.
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#2
You can say quicker but more quickly is more often used. It’s actually common in US Army slang to say quicklier. You will often hear people say something like «move more quicklier.» That’s the only place I have ever heard it though.
The morphological reasons for these conventions are complex and not really worth knowing. It’s better to just remember that quicklier isn’t a word that anyone uses and likewise for more early.
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#4
The difference between «quickly» and «early» is that «quickly» is formed from an adjective (quick) plus the adverbial ending —ly. We never use -er/-est to make comparatives/superlatives of adverbs formed in that way.
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#5
Thank you very much.
To apricots:
Thank you for suggestion.
I think sometimes I might know how to use a grammar, yet when I cannot figure out a formula for how it works, I will be confused.
To The Newt:
Thank you. I read this thread before and I was still confused, as I didn’t know how to explain the different rules between «early» and «quickly.»
To Loob:
Thank you for your answers. I have never thought about it this way.
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#6
Vipyyy, the confusion arises because most adverbs end in «-ly», and quickly is typical; it’s an adverb. (The related adjective is quick.) We often add «-er» to adjectives to form comparatives (like «quicker»), but not to adverbs (we say «more quickly»).
Early, in spite of the «-ly» ending, isn’t normally adverb; it’s an adjective, and you can form the comparative by adding «-er» and changing the «y» to an «i»: earlier.
In case you wondered: Yes, there are other adjectives that end in «-ly» and form comparatives the same way; surly and curly come to mind.
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#7
I agree with Parla.
Quickly is an adverb so it would be odd to add -er to adverbs, whereas early is an adjective and with adjectives, you can form the comparative by adding -er.
Of course, you change the -y in -i because there is a consonant before.
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#8
Just on a point of detail — we do add -er/-est to adverbs not formed from adjectives plus —ly: John ran fast, but Jim ran faster.
(I’d say that ‘earlier’ is definitely an adverb in vipyyy’s sentence.)
Last edited: Jun 4, 2015
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#9
I agree with Parla.
Quickly is an adverb so it would be odd to add -er to adverbs, whereas early is an adjective and with adjectives, you can form the comparative by adding -er.
Of course, you change the -y in -i because there is a consonant before.
?? He ran faster than me. I jumped higher than him. I waited longer than I would have wished. She talked louder than me. There are many adverbs where -er is added to the stem to make a comparative. It’s just that the stem is sometimes found by removing the -ly, and «quicker» is the comparative adverb for «quickly». Although «more quickly» is one way of forming the comparative, there’s nothing at all wrong with «quicker». And «early» isn’t an adjective in «He went to bed early.»
The difference between «quickly» and «early» is that «quickly» is formed from an adjective (quick) plus the adverbial ending —ly. We never use -er/-est to make comparatives/superlatives of adverbs formed in that way
.
I hope you didn’t mean that, Loob. But if you meant we don’t stick -er on the end of the full adverb (quicklier) but do sometimes stick it onto the stem (quicker) then I’m happy.
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#10
Umm — I thought that was what I’d said, Andy.
The point I was trying to make in post 4 was:
~ The adverb quickly [unlike the adverb early] is formed from an adjective [quick] by the addition of the adverb suffix -ly;
~ therefore we don’t use -er/est to make the comparative & superlative of the adverb quickly.
~ That is because we don’t use -er/est to make the comparative & superlative of any adverb formed from an adjective by the addition of the adverb suffix -ly.
Sorry if it wasn’t clear.
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#11
Yes.
That is because we don’t use -er/est to make the comparative & superlative of any adverb formed from an adjective by the addition of the adverb suffix -ly.
but we do sometimes, although we have to remove the -ly first — quicker is the obvious one. I’ll have to have a think about others.
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#12
For me, there are two distinct words: quickly [adverb] and quick [adjective and sometimes so-called ‘flat’ adverb*].
Quickly forms the comparative and superlative with more/most.
Quick — whether as adjective or adverb — forms the comparative and superlative with -er/-est.
I don’t think we’re really disagreeing — I think we’re just looking at things from different ends of the telescope.
——-
* also noun, but let’s not go there….
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#13
Loob, «he ran quickly», «she ran quicker» (not from «he ran quick»).
«He loved her dearly», «he loved her dearer than any other» (not from «he loved her dear»).
«He followed John closely», «he followed John closer than the other runners» (not from «he followed John close»).
All of those could use the «more quickly» form, but the «quicker» forms are all used and I can’t see that they are derived from a flat adverb. They do, however, all have single-syllable stems and there are many similar -ly adverbs where this does not work.
We do agree about not transforming -ly to -lier in -ly adverbs derived from adjectives.
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#14
Where we differ is that I’d take out the «not» from all your parentheses: I would see the adverb quicker in «she ran quicker» as deriving from the adverb quick as in «she ran quick», and so on.
But that’s a minor point in relation to this thread — we definitely agree on the main issue!
Last edited: Jun 5, 2015
Quicker is the comparative of quick, which is an adjective; more quickly is the comparative of quickly, which is an adverb.
Informally, quick is also used as adverb, with the meaning of «at a fast rate, quickly.» These are the examples reported by the NOAD (third edition).
He’ll find some place where he can make money quicker.
Get out, quick!
answered Jun 27, 2011 at 23:25
apadernoapaderno
58.5k72 gold badges211 silver badges323 bronze badges
4
I think quicker is sometimes used as an adjective, but as an adverb both are used to the same effect. From Google’s Ngram, it seems that quicker used to be more common but that more quickly is slightly commoner now.
answered Jun 27, 2011 at 22:51
HenryHenry
19.5k3 gold badges53 silver badges70 bronze badges
4
As I know that the word ‘quick’ is as well an adjective and as well an adverb e.g: I am quick in observing(as an adjective) and look quick(as an adverb) so from this sentences we can understand that ‘quicker and more quickly’ both are correct and are used comparative degree e.g: my cousin writes more quickly/quicker than my friend.
answered Jul 23, 2014 at 9:15
ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN USE FOR INTERMEDIATE
UNIT 100. Adjectives and adverbs 1 (quick/ quickly)
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A |
Quickly and seriously
For spelling, Not all words
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B |
Adjective or adverb?
We also use adjectives after some Compare:
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C |
We also use adverbs before adjectives
You can also use an adverb before a past
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EXERCISES
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100.1 |
Complete each sentence with an adverb.
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100.2 |
Put in the correct word.
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100.3 |
Complete each sentence using a word
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100.4 |
Choose two
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ANSWER KEY