badly
part of speech
adverb (badly, worse, worst)
meaning for a pupil
1) Badly means in a bad, poor or wrong way: «He played badly». tree →
2) Badly means seriously or very much: «badly hurt», «I badly want a dog». tree →
sense in the lessons
In safety and health, «badly hurt» or «badly burned» means a serious injury needing an adult or emergency help. In school, «I did badly in the test» means a low score — try again and practise. In stories, «badly» describes how characters act or what they need. Phrases: «badly off» (poor), «think badly of», «go badly», «badly behaved».
examples
- I slept badly last night. tree →
- He was badly hurt in the fall. tree →
- We played badly in the first half. tree →
- She badly wanted to win. tree →
- The window was badly broken. tree →
- Don't treat animals badly. tree →
- The party went badly because of the rain. tree →
- They behaved badly at the cinema. tree →
- “Oh, my brother, I have indeed done badly.” tree →
note
Irregular comparison: badly → worse → worst. Do not say «I feel badly» for being upset in careful writing; «I feel bad» is correct (feel + adjective). «Badly» describes actions: «sing badly».
In the corpora
- Alcohol is against the law to buy before 18 because growing bodies and brains handle it badly.
- Feelings after a performance can be big and mixed, and feeling bad does not prove you sang badly.
- Zebras defend themselves with powerful kicks and bites that can badly injure a lion, and they have never been tamed like horses.
- Peanuts are seeds that grow in pods underground like peas and beans, and some people are badly allergic to them.
- A broken growth plate needs a doctor's care, because if it heals badly that bone may grow less.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «badly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.