tiredly

Veron   Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:25 am GMT
Can I form adverbs from past participles by adding the suffix "-ly"?
Can I say "tiredly" or is it better to express it in a different way? e.g.: "I was very tired when I was reading that book."
Jim   Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:24 pm GMT
Sure you can but if in doubt, check a dictionary.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=83355&dict=CALD
Guest   Mon Feb 18, 2008 3:49 am GMT
With lots of past participles, this won't work at all:

beenly
hadly
gonely
sungly
drivenly
donely
thoughtly
eatenly
pickedly
Jim   Mon Feb 18, 2008 5:54 pm GMT
It should work if & only if the past participle forms an adjective.
guest   Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:29 pm GMT
<<drivenly
>>

I can see 'drivenly' being used as an adverb:

Being an over-achiever at work, the man drivenly got the packages out on time.

Never heard this word before, but there's nothing to proclude its use in English. We make new uses for words all the time with no difficulty. Use of 'drivenly' doesn't break any rules...
Jim   Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:35 am GMT
Sounds right to me, also "driven" can be an adjective.
Guest   Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:03 am GMT
I suppose a good example of this is "repeatedly", which you often see.
Guest   Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:07 am GMT
<<It should work if & only if the past participle forms an adjective. >>

Isn't "done" an adjective in the following sentence:

I don't think it's a done deal yet.

"donely" doesn't seem to be in common use in English.

Another example: "John is his given name." Givenly seems to be uncommon also.
Jim   Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:53 am GMT
There's always an exception to every rule ... including this one.