Question

I met her on December 23, ________ before Christmas. (Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.)
A) Too
B) Slowly
C) Just
D) Still

Answer 1

Hint: An adverb is a word that modifies or describes a verb, an adjective, another adverb or perhaps the whole sentence. Adverbs are used to indicate things like manner, place, time, frequency, degree, and level of certainty.

Complete answer:
The given sentence is in the past tense form. we need to find the exact fit of the adverb which is given in the option. It specifies when, where, and how an action is carried out, as well as the quality or degree of the action.

Let us analyze the given options:
Option A) Too – the meaning of ‘too’ is ‘to a higher degree than it is desirable or excessive of something’. The use of ‘too’ in the blank will not give any sense in the sentence. I met her on December 23, before Christmas. So, this is not fit for the sentence and this is an incorrect answer.
Option B) Slowly – the meaning of slowly is ‘not rapidly, less speed’. If we use this option in the blank it will make the sentence inappropriate. So, this word is not used for mentioning an event. Therefore, this is an incorrect answer.
Option C) Just - just mean recently, exactly, scarcely, ease of something, voicing agreement. When compared to the sentence this option is exactly fit for the sentence. Thus, the option is the right one. So, in this case, the sentence structure implies that the adverb in which we are supposed to fill in the blank is linked to the time that Christmas is celebrated on December 25th.
Option D) Still – the meaning of still is ‘yet, though, nevertheless, all the same’. so, the adverb is not used in this situation because the meanings are grammatically incorrect if we use it in the sentence. Therefore, this is an incorrect answer.

Therefore the correct answer is option ‘C’i.e, I met her on December 23, just before Christmas.

Note: We note that many adverbs end in -ly, but some words end in –ly. For example, friendly are not adverbs. Many terms, depending on their function in the sentence, maybe both adverbs and adjectives. Here, we figure out the correct adverb which denotes the time, location of an event. So, option C is the most appropriate answer as compared to the other options.