Question

Fill in the blank with the most suitable adverb of the highlighted or bracketed words.
She is very (careful). She reads the text _______ before answering.
a) careful
b) carefully
c) cared
d) carefulness

Answer 1

Hint: Adverbs are placed before verbs, and not nouns. They are words that modify broadly verbs and adjectives, so, they are placed before them, and not nouns.

Complete answer:
The word in the brackets is in the adjective form. It is used as an adjective, ‘careful’. The word ‘careful’ refers to ‘making sure of avoiding potential danger, mishap, or harm; cautious’.
In order to make it fit into the given blank, we need to convert it into an adverb, as the word after the blank is ‘before’, which is a preposition. So, to convert an adjective into an adverb, all you need to do is add the appropriate suffixes. These suffixes can range from a simple ‘-ly’ to having no suffixes.

Now, we know how to convert nouns into adjectives. Let’s look at the given options-
a) careful - The word ‘careful’ refers to ‘making sure of avoiding potential danger, mishap, or harm; cautious'. This word is used as an adjective. This is not an adverb. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b) carefully - The word ‘carefully’ refers to ‘in a way that deliberately avoids harm or errors; cautiously'. This word is used as an adverb. This is the adverb form of the adjective ‘careful’. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
c) cared - The word ‘cared’ refers to ‘felt concern or interest; attached importance to something’. This word is used as a verb. This is not an adverb. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d) carefulness - The word ‘carefulness’ refers to ‘the trait of being cautious; being attentive to possible danger’. This word is used as a noun. This is not an adverb. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note:
Try to identify the part of speech that is appropriate for the given blank. Then, proceed to convert the given adjective form of the word into the required part of speech, try to find the suitable suffix. Make sure it is grammatically correct. Then, choose the correct option.