Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
The flowers smell _______.
a) much
b) very much
c) good
d) well

Answer 1

Hint: In the given sentence, only a simple statement is being made which describes the subject. This means that the required degree of adjectives is positive.

Complete answer:
 An adjective is a word or phrase naming an attribute, added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify or describe it. Its semantic role is to change the information given by the noun. In short, it lends description to the noun. They are of various types such as demonstrative, possessive, qualitative, quantitative, etc.

Positive - The positive degree is the simplest degree of comparison. It has no special ending. It offers no comparison, just the existence of a particular quality.
Comparative - This degree compares two or more things to find which one exists in a more or less degree. It either has the word ‘more’ before the adjective or has the suffix ‘-er’ after the adjective.
Superlative - This degree denotes the most extreme form of the adjective. It is formed by using the article ‘the’ before the adjective and adding either ‘most’ before the adjective or the suffix ‘-est’ after the adjective.
For the given sentence, we need the positive degree.
Now, let’s look at the given options-
a) much - This word ‘much’ refers to ‘. This word is a determiner and not an adjective. It does not fit into the context of the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b) very much - This phrase is a more intense version of the word ‘much’, and it can also be used as a determiner. This is not an adjective. It does not fit into the context of the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
c) good - The word ‘good’ refers to ‘. This word is a positive degree adjective and fits perfectly into the given sentence. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
d) well - The word ‘well’ refers to ‘. This word is an adverb and not an adjective. It does not fit into the context of the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note:
 Look at the given sentence and note that there is one simple statement being made. The blank is after a verb. This means that the blank should be filled by a specific part of speech. Choose the correct option accordingly.