Question

Supply a suitable adverb clause to complete the sentence:
She came home ___________.
A) By twelve o’clock
B) After the clock struck twelve
C) Very late at night
D) None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: An adverb is a word that modifies a verb or an adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, time, place, frequency or degree. For example: arrived early; stayed home; worked hard; rune slowly; the words early, slowly home and hard are the adverbs.

Complete answer:
Let us look into the given options:
Option A) By twelve o’clock – is an incorrect answer because ‘by twelve o’clock’ is a phrase not a clause. So, this is an incorrect answer.
Option B) After the clock struck twelve – is the correct answer because here the adverb expresses the time or an adverb clause of the time. After is a subordinate or conjunction that refers to time. Therefore, this is the proper answer because it fills the blank meaningfully and grammatically correct.
Option C) Very late at night – is an incorrect answer because ‘very late at night’ again is a phrase not a clause. Therefore, this is an incorrect answer and putting it in the blank makes the sentence grammatically incorrect.
Option D) None of the above – is an incorrect answer because this option is a invalid or null option because the correct answer lies in option B.

Thus the correct answer is option ‘B’ i.,e She came home after the clock struck twelve.

Note: An adverb clause or phrase could be a group of words containing a subject and a verb, and it functions as an adverb, by modifying an adjective, verb or an adverb. Adverb clauses generally begin with a subordinate conjunction (since, because, while, etc.). Adverbs often end with ‘- ly’.