Sentence Correction

In the traditional Japanese household, most clothing could be packed flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities.

(A) flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities
(B) flat, and so elaborate closet facilities were unnecessary
(C) flatly, and so there was no necessity for elaborate closet facilities
(D) flat, there being no necessity for elaborate closet facilities
(E) flatly, as no elaborate closet facilities were necessary

[spoiler]Any technical issues with the word "flatly" in the above sentence????[/spoiler]

flat is noun, packed - adjective
flatly - adverb

adverb can qualify adj but not vice versa.

B looks okay

i agree to you that flatly is adverb and it can modify adjective but not noun..........can you please tell me why is the word flatly in this sentence wrong taking A and C as reference??????

The clothes are packed flat.
the clothes - subject
are - verb
packed - adjective
flat - object

Object shall be noun not adverb..

Hope I have answered your question??

not able to understand how object can be "flat" as per my understanding "object" is something on which an action is being performed.................can you please clarify on "flat" being an "object" and suppose if i change the sentence to two options-

1. "clothes are flatly packed" then would this sentence be correct. If yes then what will be the object???

2. "Clothes are packed flat"

out of the above two which one would be correct because I dont think so that if in 1st it would have been "clothes are flat packed" then it would have been correct............

Yes you are correct.. I think flat is not the object... Let me dig my grammer book

In the traditional Japanese household, most clothing could be packed flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities.

(A) flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities
(B) flat, and so elaborate closet facilities were unnecessary
(C) flatly, and so there was no necessity for elaborate closet facilities
(D) flat, there being no necessity for elaborate closet facilities
(E) flatly, as no elaborate closet facilities were necessary

We have 2 ways 2 go by ....1) Eliminate by Flat or Flatly
2) Can we knock out 2 options directly and then go Flat or Flatly....

Let me start with 2nd way

E is wrong because its a run on sentence.....
D is wrong because of run on and also being is placed awkward ......
Now comes Wther it should be Flatly or Flat

"most clothing could be packed flatly"

Clothing is Noun
be packed is Verb
Flat will be modifying the way the packing should be done.....So it should be adverb Flatly not the Adjective Flat here...

This will eliminate B and D


So we have now left with A and C

C changes the meaning the author intended...Author says in first not necesarry to have , and C says no Necessity which chnges the meaning...

So A is the anser here....

In the traditional Japanese household, most clothing could be packed flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities.

[spoiler]Any technical issues with the word "flatly" in the above sentence????[/spoiler]

The intention of the sentence is:

Since the Japaneese clothing could be packed flatly, it is not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities.

The word flatly, here sounds to be more of an adverb modifying packed, a verb without object, rather than modifying the clothing, a noun. Since, we need something to modify clothing, which I believe is the subject, an adverd cannot be used. An adjective, flat in this case, can be properly used to modify noun.

Thus not A, but B.

Hope it helps.

IMO B .

Zest of what Pranay explained :-

Construction allowed -
--> Adverb + Adjective + Noun

--> Adjective + Adjective + Noun

Adverb canNOT modfiy noun .

Ok, firstly, the word clothes does not need to be modified at all. The intention of the sentence is not to say that the clothes are flat, but that they are packed flatly. If I put a t-shirt on the ground, it is for all intents and purposes, flat. It is essentially 2-dimensional and does not have any real height. But when I fold the t-shirt, its height increases, making it no longer flat. That's why the fact that Japanese people could pack the clothes flatly is important. Saying the clothes themselves are flat does not really imply anything in the context of storage. I could have 100 flat clothes, but if I can't minimize the storage space needed by packing them flatly, I'll need closet facilities to accommodate my clothes. So flat is incorrect in this sentence, and it is in fact modifying the adjective packed.

From a construction perspective, everyone is right. An adverb cannot modify a noun. But I don't believe that is the intention in this sentence. The construction in this sentence is not "Adverb + Noun + Adjective", or any other form which suggests that the adverb is modifying the noun. It is "Noun + Adjective + Adverb", which is just the reverse order of what AIM GMAT suggests above. I don't see why that would not be legitimate.

Once you eliminate flat, that leaves A or C. Here I'm quite stumped. I do not think that there is any real difference in meaning between the two, so it probably has to do with something very specific in the phrasing. I would have probably just guessed one way or another between the two, which is probably not the best option.

Would love to keep hearing other thoughts on this!

I must say m totally confuse in this question...

What is the VERB here????

I think its Could be packed

Clothing----->>> Noun (subject)

flat------->>> Can be a noun or adjective depend on context

flatly------>>> Adverb always

Now, the people who suggested that FLAT is acting as an adjective modifying CLOTHING, then how is this possible logically...

i mean put them together...flat clothing/ clothing flat...both doesn't make sense...

If OA is B...and the use of FLAT is correct i think this word is acting as a noun not an adjective...

But why the use of adverb is wrong i didn't get...flatly is modifying verb packed...and logically it make sense to me...

I'm confused an in exam i definitely gonna pick Op A...which is not the OA..

aspirant2011 wrote:In the traditional Japanese household, most clothing could be packed flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities.

(A) flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities
(B) flat, and so elaborate closet facilities were unnecessary
(C) flatly, and so there was no necessity for elaborate closet facilities
(D) flat, there being no necessity for elaborate closet facilities
(E) flatly, as no elaborate closet facilities were necessary

[spoiler]Any technical issues with the word "flatly" in the above sentence????[/spoiler]

I think the answer should be A
Reason:
C is wrong because its "necessity OF" and not "Necessity FOR"
B & D are wrong (as explained in the earlier posts)
E is wrong because as in this context is incorrect.

I hope i'm correct.

OA is B

aspirant2011 wrote:OA is B

I think then, its the meaning of flat and flatly that's being considered here. With reference to the closet, "flat" would mean "in a much compressed way - in terms of packing", while "flatly" would mean "absolutely - or totally". Which might be a wrong usage.

That's the best way i can justify your answer. Hope this has helped.

AIM GMAT wrote:IMO B .

Zest of what Pranay explained :-

Construction allowed -
--> Adverb + Adjective + Noun

--> Adjective + Adjective + Noun

Adverb canNOT modfiy noun .

An Adjective cannot modify an adjective!