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Pickleball: a game from a backyard – adverbs of manner with -ly, well and hard

Adverbs of manner like softly, well and hard are the grammar point of this A2 ESL lesson plan about pickleball and its rules.

Grammar
Adjective + -ly (soft, softly; easy, easily), the irregular well, hard and fast, adjectives and adverbs side by side (a careful player, play carefully) and adverb word order.
Topic
Pickleball, born in a backyard on Bainbridge Island, Washington, in the summer of 1965, and its rules, with words such as paddle, bounce and dink.
Activities
A club notice to read, a lesson on the court and a voice message to hear, self-checking drills, a chat in which students explain the rules and open-box prompts.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Game on: pickleball!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: a game from a backyardVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and chooseChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: a game from a backyard

    • Look at the photo: a backyard courtPictureUnlock
    • Read the club noticeReal-life documentTry it
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the right answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: too hard, Marco!

    • Listen to Lila and MarcoListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the right answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to Grandpa's challengeListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: hit it softly!

    • Study the scheme: adverbsGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: adjective → adverbFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: adjective or adverbFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answerQuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: explain the rules

    • Choose the right replies: explain the rules to MarcoChatTry it
    • Open a box and answer: explain the rulesOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the words from the lessonAnagramUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: words from the lessonDrag and dropUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: write the adverbFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Sort the phrases into the correct columns: adjective or adverb?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Read the club notice again: rules true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Put the parts of Nora's rules in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Nora's rules cardChoose the optionUnlock

30 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

10 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+7 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • net
  • ping-pong
  • backyard
  • badminton
  • dink
  • pickle
  • rower

Grammar: adverbs of manner

Adverbs of manner answer the question How?: how someone hits, plays or runs. While explaining the rules of pickleball, learners make adverbs from adjectives they already know, meet the few that break the pattern, tell adjectives and adverbs apart, and put the adverb in its place.

Hit the ball softly!

An adjective tells you about a noun: a soft hit. An adverb tells you how someone does something: hit softly.

Adjective or adverb?

An adjective describes a noun or follows be: a soft hit, The ball is fast. An adverb describes a verb and answers How?: hit softly, play carefully. The adverb never changes with the person, now or in the past: She hits hard. We ran fast.

Adjective or adverb?

Adjective: with a noun or after be

  • a soft hit
  • a careful player
  • Lila is a good teacher.
  • The ball is fast.

Adverb: with a verb (how?)

  • hit softly
  • play carefully
  • Lila teaches well.
  • The ball flies fast.

Every person: the adverb doesn't change

WhoNowIn the past
II play well.I played well.
youYou serve carefully.You served carefully.
he, she, itShe hits hard. It bounces well.She hit hard. It bounced well.
weWe run fast.We ran fast.
theyThey learn quickly.They learned quickly.

Making the adverb: -ly and its spelling

Most adverbs add -ly: softly, quickly, slowly, badly. A final l stays, so carefully has two l's; y turns into i (easily, happily); -le becomes -ly (gently, terribly). Good turns into well, while hard, fast and late stay as they are.

AdjectiveHowAdverb
soft, quick, slow, bad, loud, quiet+ lysoftly, quickly, slowly, badly, loudly, quietly
careful, diagonal+ ly (two l's!)carefully, diagonally
easy, happyy → ilyeasily, happily
gentle, terriblele → lygently, terribly
gooda new wordwell
hard, fast, lateno changehard, fast, late

Where the adverb goes

With an object, the adverb comes after it: Hit the ball softly. She plays pickleball well. It never goes between the verb and its object, so Hit softly the ball is wrong. With no object, it follows the verb: He runs fast.

Where does it go?

verbobjectadverb

Hit the ball softly.

Lila plays pickleball well.

Marco hits every ball hard.

After the object

With an object, put the adverb after it: Hit the ball softly. (Not: Hit softly the ball.) No object? Put it after the verb: Biscuit runs fast. Lila plays well.

Pickleball sentences

  • The plastic ball bounced well on the hard ground.
  • The ping-pong paddles broke easily.
  • Hit the serve diagonally across the court.
  • Near the net, play softly and carefully.
  • From the back of the court, you can hit hard and fast.

Hard or hardly? Fast or fastly?

Hard is an adverb already: He hits hard. Hardly is a different word that means almost not: He hardly hits the ball means he almost doesn't hit it. And English has no fastly: The dog runs fast.

hard or hardly? fast or fastly?

hard is an adverb too: Marco hits hard. hardly is a different word: it means almost not. Marco hardly hits the ball. = He almost doesn't hit it. There's no word "fastly": Biscuit runs fast.

Common mistakes

  • Marco hits the ball soft.

    Marco hits the ball softly.

    how? → an adverb

  • Lila plays very good.

    Lila plays very well.

    good → well

  • Hit softly the ball.

    Hit the ball softly.

    the adverb after the object

  • Biscuit runs fastly. Play carefuly!

    Biscuit runs fast. Play carefully!

    fast → fast; careful + ly

More lessons on this grammar: Adjectives and adverbs lessons and exercises

Try the adverbs of manner exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 16 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 real-life document
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • make adverbs from adjectives with -ly and its spelling rules: soft, softly; easy, easily; gentle, gently
  • use well, hard, fast and late as adverbs: She plays well. The dog runs fast.
  • choose an adjective for a noun and an adverb for a verb: a careful player, play carefully
  • explain the rules of a game with adverbs in the right place: Serve underhand and hit the ball gently.

Lesson 19 comes third in Game on, the fifth unit of English A2.1 · Then and Now. It builds on A1.1 lesson 30, where well came after a verb (I can surf very well, not very good), and turns more adjectives into adverbs: soft into softly, careful into carefully. Explaining a game's rules, the lesson's speaking task, calls for exactly these words: Serve underhand and hit the ball gently.

A wheel of questions about sports and family games opens the lesson, followed by ten words, from hit and bounce to dink and rower, each with a picture and audio. The reading is a club notice with pickleball's rules and the two stories behind its name; after it, students listen to Lila teaching Marco on the court (an AI-voiced dialogue) and to a voice message with a challenge: win one point against a local player. The scheme is followed by four self-checking exercises, one of them a table that turns a soft hit into hit softly. In the speaking chapter, students explain the rules to Marco in a chat, then open boxes and explain games of their own.

All the homework is self-checking: matching and unscrambling the words, typing adverbs into gaps, putting sentences in order, sorting phrases into adjective and adverb columns, checking the notice's rules as true or false, and completing a rules card.

Grammar:
adverbs of manner · adjective + -ly · well, hard, fast, late · adjective or adverb · adverb word order
Topic:
pickleball · Bainbridge Island · Washington State · rules of a game · backyard games · the pickle boat · sports

Teaching tips

  • Compare a beginner and a champion: name an action such as serving, running or hitting, and students say how each one does it: A beginner serves badly. A champion serves well.
  • Ask where the name pickleball might come from before the reading. Students guess, then find the notice's two stories, the pickle boat and the family dog, and see that people still disagree.
  • Pause the dialogue after each of Lila's tips and have students repeat it with the adverb stressed: Hit the ball gently. Play softly and carefully.
  • Turn the open-box rules task into a guessing game: each pair explains a game they know in three steps with adverbs, without naming it, and the class guesses the game.

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The whole course: English A2.1 · Then and Now

32 lessons for adults at A2 in simple American English, from the past simple to going to, should and might. Eight units tell stories of journeys, American firsts, food, places, sports, music, neighbors and dreams. Pictures and definitions replace translations, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Amazing journeys

    the past simple, regular and irregular verbs, negatives, prepositions of movement

    1. Lesson 1Around the world in 72 daysThe past simple of regular verbs
    2. Lesson 2The first drive across AmericaIrregular verbs in the past simple
    3. Lesson 3Get your kicks on Route 66Past simple negatives with didn't
    4. Lesson 4She walked 2,000 miles in sneakersPrepositions of movement

  2. Unit 2 American firsts

    was and were, past questions and short answers, ago and in, could for past ability

    1. Lesson 5The first American woman in spaceWas, were, there was and there were
    2. Lesson 6A real bug in the computerPast simple questions with did
    3. Lesson 7“Mr. Watson, come here”Wh- questions in the past simple
    4. Lesson 8Twelve seconds in the airCould and couldn't for past ability

  3. Unit 3 American food

    countable and uncountable nouns, comparatives, ordering food, a few and a little

    1. Lesson 9The first chocolate chip cookieCountable and uncountable nouns in a recipe
    2. Lesson 10Is a jalapeño hotter than a habanero?Comparatives of short adjectives
    3. Lesson 11Two eggs, sunny side up!Offers and orders with would like
    4. Lesson 12Cooking for twenty on ThanksgivingA few, a little and a lot of

  4. Unit 4 City or country?

    comparatives with more and less, superlatives, as … as, too and enough

    1. Lesson 13The island with no carsComparatives with more and less, plus better, worse and farther
    2. Lesson 14America's extremesSuperlatives with the + -est, the most and the least
    3. Lesson 15San Francisco or Yosemite? You choose!As … as for the same, not as … as for less
    4. Lesson 16A park on an old railroadToo, enough and not … enough

  5. Unit 5 Game on

    play, go and do with sports, going to, adverbs of manner, reflexive pronouns

    1. Lesson 17Basketball started with peach baskets?Play, go and do with sports
    2. Lesson 18What's going to happen at LA 2028?Be going to for plans and predictions
    3. Lesson 19 · you're herePickleball: a game from a backyardAdverbs of manner
    4. Lesson 20Be brave and tryReflexive pronouns and each other

  6. Unit 6 Music and nights out

    love, enjoy and hate + -ing, the present continuous for plans, suggestions, to for purpose

    1. Lesson 21Where jazz was bornGerunds after love, like, enjoy, hate and don't mind
    2. Lesson 22Music on every streetThe present continuous for future arrangements
    3. Lesson 23A night on BroadwaySuggestions with Let's, Why don't we and How about
    4. Lesson 24An orchestra for every kidThe infinitive of purpose and to or for

  7. Unit 7 Neighbors and community

    much and many, should, something and everyone, because and so

    1. Lesson 25Everybody cleans up!Much and many with nouns you can and can't count
    2. Lesson 26Good neighbors shovel snowShould and shouldn't + the base verb
    3. Lesson 27Take a book, leave a bookIndefinite pronouns with some-, any-, no- and every-
    4. Lesson 28A bench for making friendsBecause for reasons, so for results

  8. Unit 8 Plans and dreams

    verb + to, the present continuous vs going to, might, when, before and after

    1. Lesson 29Never give up: from farm fields to spaceVerb + to + the base form
    2. Lesson 30Across America by trainGoing to and the present continuous for the future
    3. Lesson 31Open in the year 6939Might and might not for possibility
    4. Lesson 32A college graduate at 95Time clauses with when, before and after

Questions about this lesson

What are adverbs of manner?
Adverbs of manner say how someone does something: She hits the ball softly. He runs fast. They play well. Most are an adjective + -ly (soft, softly; careful, carefully), but good becomes well, and hard, fast and late don't change. The A2 lesson Pickleball: a game from a backyard on edio.ai uses them to explain a game's rules.
What's the difference between adjectives and adverbs?
Adjectives describe nouns; adverbs describe how an action happens. So it's a careful player but play carefully, a good teacher but teach well. After be, use the adjective: The ball is fast. After an action verb, use the adverb: The ball flies fast. A quick test is the question How?: if the word answers it, you need an adverb.
How do you make adverbs ending in -ly?
Make most adverbs by adding -ly to the adjective: quick, quickly; loud, loudly; bad, badly. Three spelling changes come up often: y becomes i (easy, easily), -le becomes -ly (gentle, gently), and a final l stays, so careful gives carefully with two l's. In the A2 lesson Pickleball: a game from a backyard on edio.ai, a gap-fill turns a gentle teacher into She teaches gently.
Where do adverbs of manner go in a sentence?
An adverb of manner usually goes after the verb, or after its object: She plays well. Hit the ball softly. He watched the ball carefully. Putting it between a verb and its object is a mistake, so Hit softly the ball and Watch carefully the ball are both wrong. Two adverbs can share the end of a sentence with and: Near the net, play softly and carefully.
How do you explain the rules of a game in English?
Explain the rules as short steps with imperatives and adverbs: Serve underhand. Hit the ball gently, diagonally across the court. Near the net, play softly. Use first and then for the order, and can't for what isn't allowed: You can't hit the ball in the air in the kitchen. In Pickleball: a game from a backyard, an A2 lesson on edio.ai, students talk Marco through the rules in a chat.
What's the difference between good and well?
Good is an adjective; well is its adverb. Use good with a noun or after be (a good teacher, The game is good.) and well after an action verb (She teaches well. The ball bounces well.). So if you're choosing good or well after an action verb, choose well: She plays very well, not very good. Well can also be an adjective for health: I'm well, thanks.
Is it "hit the ball soft" or "hit the ball softly"?
It's hit the ball softly, because how needs an adverb. Soft is the adjective, for a noun: a soft hit, a soft, short shot. The same choice comes up with careful and carefully: a careful player, but Play carefully! To choose an adjective or an adverb, look at what the word describes: a thing takes the adjective, an action the adverb.
What's the difference between hard and hardly?
Hard means with force, and hardly means almost not: He hits the ball hard describes a strong hit, but He hardly hits the ball means he almost doesn't hit it. Hard needs no -ly to be an adverb, just like fast: She runs fast, never fastly. A quiz in Pickleball: a game from a backyard, an A2 lesson on edio.ai, checks what Marco hardly hits the ball means.
How do I teach adverbs of manner to A2 students?
Start from adjectives students already know, turning each into an adverb with an action: a slow walk, walk slowly. Teach well, hard and fast as exceptions from the start, then word order. In Pickleball: a game from a backyard on edio.ai, a dialogue full of tips like Hit the ball gently comes before the scheme, and the drills mix choosing the right form with typing it.
What's a good game for practicing adverbs of manner?
A good one is acting out a verb in the manner of an adverb: a student draws a card such as walk + slowly or sing + loudly, acts it out, and the class guesses You're singing loudly! For speaking practice, boxes to open with prompts like Say one thing you do well and one thing you do badly get students using adverbs about themselves.
What's good homework for practicing adverbs of manner?
Self-checking drills that pair adjectives with adverbs make good homework: a column sort with a soft dink on one side and hit softly on the other, gaps such as Hold the paddle … (gentle), and sentences to put in order, like The ferry / crossed / the water / slowly. Each one shows at once whether gentle or gently was right.
Are there interactive exercises for adverbs of manner?
Yes: self-checking gap-fills and chat role-plays show each slip with soft or softly at once. Four parts of Pickleball: a game from a backyard, an A2 lesson on edio.ai, can be tried on this page without an account: the club notice with the rules, Lila and Marco's dialogue on the court, a gap-fill that turns adjectives into adverbs, and a chat in which students explain the rules to Marco. The other exercises are locked.
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