SC - Adjective Adverb - The Beat The GMAT Forum - Expert GMAT Help & MBA Admissions Advice

BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

SC - Adjective Adverb

This topic has expert replies

Post new topic Locked

Previous Topic Next Topic

karthikpandian19: Legendary Member; Posts: 1665; Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2011 7:04 pm; Thanked: 165 times; Followed by:70 members

SC - Adjective Adverb

by karthikpandian19 » Sat Jul 14, 2012 4:59 pm

Which sentence is correctly written? Also provide reasons for each sentence

(A) My cousin completed the puzzle flawless, without a single mistake.

(B) The mathematician solved the problem easy and did not hesitate to tell everyone about his accomplishment.

(C) Her hair felt as if it had been recently combed with the softest brush in the world.

(D) The timing of the weather worked out perfect because the picnic had already ended.

(E) The student filled out the form complete after she read it a few times.

Regards,
Karthik
The source of the questions that i post from JUNE 2013 is from KNEWTON

---If you find my post useful, click "Thank"

---
---Never stop until cracking GMAT---

Quote

Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sat Jul 14, 2012 4:59 pm

alex.gellatly: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 435; Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2011 7:27 am; Thanked: 48 times; Followed by:16 members

by alex.gellatly » Sat Jul 14, 2012 6:00 pm

karthikpandian19 wrote:Which sentence is correctly written? Also provide reasons for each sentence

(A) My cousin completed the puzzle flawless, without a single mistake. This is incorrect. You need to use the ADV flawlessly not the ADJ flawless. How did your cousin complete the puzzle? She completed it flawlessly. Remember use ADV to modify VERBS (Completed)

(B) The mathematician solved the problem easy and did not hesitate to tell everyone about his accomplishment. This is incorrect. For the same logic as statement A, you need to use and ADV not an ADJ. The mathematician solved the problem easily. How did it solve it? He solved it easily. Remember use ADV to modify VERBS (Solve)

(C) Her hair felt as if it had been recently combed with the softest brush in the world. This sentence is correct. It correctly uses ADV (recently) and ADJ (softest) correctly.

(D) The timing of the weather worked out perfect because the picnic had already ended. This sentence is incorrect.This sentence uses the PAST PERFECT (S+HAD+PAST PARTICIPLE) correctly. However, it uses the ADJ perfect incorrectly. We should use the ADV perfectly. How did the weather work out? It worked out perfectly. Remember, use ADV to modify VERBS (work out)

(E) The student filled out the form complete after she read it a few times. This sentence is incorrect because it uses the ADJ complete incorrectly. We should use the ADV completely. How did the student fill out the form? She filled it out completely. Remember ADV are used to modify VERBS (fill out)

Does this help?

Quote

eagleeye: Legendary Member; Posts: 520; Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:12 pm; Thanked: 339 times; Followed by:49 members; GMAT Score:770

by eagleeye » Sat Jul 14, 2012 6:24 pm

karthikpandian19 wrote:Which sentence is correctly written? Also provide reasons for each sentence

(A) My cousin completed the puzzle flawless, without a single mistake.

Problems- Redundancy and adjective use instead of adverb.
Possible corrections:
My cousin completed the puzzle flawlessly.
My cousin completed the puzzle without making a single mistake.

(B) The mathematician solved the problem easy and did not hesitate to tell everyone about his accomplishment.
Adjective used instead of adverb. Wordiness.
Possible correction:
The mathematician solved the problem easily and told everyone about his accomplishment.

(C) Her hair felt as if it had been recently combed with the softest brush in the world.
This is correct. recently is the correct adverb form.

(D) The timing of the weather worked out perfect because the picnic had already ended.
Perfectly should be used for modifying "worked out".

(E) The student filled out the form complete after she read it a few times.
A couple of problems here. First, form should be modified by completely. Second, since one action comes "after" the other, the verb tense should be chosen accordingly.
Possible corrections:
The student filled out the form completely after she "had read" it a few times.
The student filled out the form completely after "having read" it a few times.

Let me know if this helps

Quote

confuse mind: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 462; Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:08 pm; Thanked: 10 times; Followed by:4 members

by confuse mind » Sun Jul 15, 2012 4:02 am

I agree with the above explanation for the first 3 sentences.

Some confusion in last 2:

(D) The timing of the weather worked out perfect because the picnic had already ended.

(E) The student filled out the form complete after she read it a few times.

(D) The timing of the weather worked out perfect because the picnic had already ended.

I feel 'perfect' is correct because the sentences indicates a state of weather for us. The timing of the weather is not the does of the action.
The timing is perfect for is and thus it is the state which is denoted here and thus 'prefect'

(E) The student filled out the form complete after she read it a few times.

Here also I feel complete is the state of the filled out form and thus we should use adjective and not adverb.
We are not trying to indicate the 'how' part of the activity but the state of the object after the completion of the action and thus we should use 'complete' and not completely.

This is a constant source of confusion for me. Please help. Experts?

Quote

alex.gellatly: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 435; Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2011 7:27 am; Thanked: 48 times; Followed by:16 members

by alex.gellatly » Sun Jul 15, 2012 6:07 pm

confuse mind wrote:I agree with the above explanation for the first 3 sentences.

Some confusion in last 2:

(D) The timing of the weather worked out perfect because the picnic had already ended.

(E) The student filled out the form complete after she read it a few times.

(D) The timing of the weather worked out perfect because the picnic had already ended.

I feel 'perfect' is correct because the sentences indicates a state of weather for us. The timing of the weather is not the does of the action.
The timing is perfect for is and thus it is the state which is denoted here and thus 'prefect'

(E) The student filled out the form complete after she read it a few times.

Here also I feel complete is the state of the filled out form and thus we should use adjective and not adverb.
We are not trying to indicate the 'how' part of the activity but the state of the object after the completion of the action and thus we should use 'complete' and not completely.

This is a constant source of confusion for me. Please help. Experts?

Although you could argue that it is a "state", worked out and filled out are verbal phrases and thus must have an ADV. The form being filled out and the weather being perfect may "seem" like a state, but grammatically this is not the case. This is because both verbs work and fill are dynamic or action verbs. Someone (or thing) does the action and thus we need to use an ADV to modify the verb. We use ADJ in the case of stative or non-action verbs.

Some examples
I fill out the form carefully I DO THE ACTION (fill out)
I drive my car carefully I DO THE ACTION (drive)

The weather is nice. THE WEATHER DOES NOT DO THE ACTION (be)
The weather feels perfect THE WEATHER DOES NOT TO THE ACTION (feel)

The weather worked out perfectly THE WEATHER DOES THE ACTION (work out)
The weather changed quickly THE WEATHER DOES THE ACTION (change)

Does this help? Let me know