Correcting Other Adjective and Adverb Errors - GMAT Verbal

The underlined portion of the sentence problematically contains a misused adverb, "strongly." This needs to be turned into an adjective to appropriately describe "desire." "Have a strong desire" is the only answer choice that does this and is fully gramatically correct.

The word "alleged" is modifying the word "made," a verb, which needs an adverb to modify it. The adverb form of "alleged" is "allegedly," which makes the correct answer "allegedly made."

The word "increasing" in the sentence is used to describe the verb phrase "being delayed." Even though these words are not the verb in the sentence, they still need an adverb form to describe them. The correct answer is "Marriages are increasingly being delayed."

The use of the word "simultaneous" actually describes the verb "developed," even though it is next to the verb "researchers." The issue can be corrected by making the word "simultaneous" an adverb. "By two researchers simultaneously" is the correct answer choice.

The use of the word "frighteningly" is absolutely incorrect, as it is an adverb being used to describe a gerund, or a verb that takes the form of a noun, in "looking." Gerunds need to be modified with an adjective. Therefore, "to the frightening looking motel" is the correct answer.

The use of the word "usual" in the sentence is incorrect, as it describes the verb "took," which means it needs to take an adverb form. The only answer choice with the correct form that also keeps the intended meaning of the sentence is "The old man usually took."

The use of the adverb "unpredictably" is incorrect in the sentence, as it describes a noun and should be an adjective. Otherwise, the sentence is absolutely correct; therefore, the best answer choice is "as it can be unpredictable."

The use of "much" in the sentence is incorrect, as "much" indicates a great amount, but not a large count, and should be used for singular nouns. The correct choice should have the word "many" instead of "much." The only answer choice that makes this chnage is "despite many different attempts to do so."

The use of the adverb "horribly" is wrong, as the word modifies a noun, "comedian," and should actually be an adjective. This problem can be corrected by shifting "horribly" to its adjectival form. Therefore, the correct answer choice is "He was a horrible comedian, with no ability to make anybody laugh."

The use of the adjective "perfect" is incorrect in this sentence, as it modifies the verb "handled." A verb can only be modified by an adverb, meaning "perfect" must be changed to its adverbial form. As the only answer choice to use the adverb "perfectly" instead of the adjective "perfect," the correct answer choice is "as it always handled its money perfectly."

The answer choice "otherwise you will not appreciate the equally poignant sequel" is another subordinate clause, so this answer choice is incorrect because it leaves the sentence with no independent clause.

In the answer choice "you will not appreciate the equal poignant sequel," "equal" is an adjective, but you must choose an adverb that modifies the adjective “poignant." "Equally" is the correct form, so this answer choice is incorrect.

The answer choice "only after fully appreciating the equally poignant sequel," is another subordinate clause, so this answer choice is incorrect. You must pick an independent clause.

In the answer choice "you did not appreciate the equally poignant sequel,"the past tense form of “did appreciate” does not agree with the insubordinate clause, which indicates that something will happen in the future (after you comprehend the message). The appropriate choice should indicate somethign that occurrs in the future, so this answer choice is incorrect.

The answer choice "you will not appreciate the equally poignant sequel" is a future-tense independent clause with the appropriate adverb form of "equally." It is correct!

The placement of the adverb "initially" is incorrect in this sentence, as it places the modifier in the midst of the complex verb used in the second part of the sentence. It needs to be placed directly before the full verb construction. The only answer choice which does this is "than the one that initially had been given by the building’s architect."

In this sentence, both "extreme" and "specified" are incorrectly used, and need to take on their proper forms. The adjective "extreme" is used instead of the adverbial form, and the word "specified" is used where the related word "specific" is more appropriate. Therefore, as the only answer choice that correctly makes these changes, the correct answer is "allocating funds in extremely specific manners."

"Unique" means one of a kind, and nothing can be more "one of a kind" than anything else. The phrase "by far the most unique" needs to be taken out of the sentence and rearranged to properly use "unique" in the sentence. The only answer choice which correctly uses "unique" is "she was unique among all of the students at the academy."

The use of the adverb "thoughtfully" is incorrect here, as it is being used to modify the noun "consideration." Adjectives, not adverbs, are used to modify nouns. The correct phrase is therefore "giving it thoughtful consideration," which uses the adjective "thoughtful" instead of the adverb "thoughtfully."

The use of the verb "baffling" in this sentence is incorrect, as the "detectives" are being affected by the "series of murders." This means that the verb, which in this case is used as a participle, should be placed into a past tense form. Only one choice, "completely baffled by the series of murders," correctly makes this change.

The example sentence incorrectly uses an adjective where an adverb is needed. "Bitter", in this context, modifies the verb "was," and therefore should be replaced by the adverb "bitterly." If the cold were being used as a noun, then the adjective form of "bitter" would be appropriate—for example, "We were wrapped in a bitter cold." The correct version of the example reads, "We had a terrible time at the football game. It was bitterly cold."

This sentence contains a misuse of an adverb. The word "quickly" is meant to describe the noun "response," but adverbs cannot describe nouns. What is needed here is the adjective form of the word, which is "quick." The proper choice is, "Ahmed was known for his quick."

The word "fast" is supposed to modify the word "built." Adverbs modify verbs, but "fast" is an adjective. The correct choice is "quickly" (fastly is not a word). While "with speed," is technically also correct, it adds another word, which makes it less concise. The correct choice is, "Jenny built programs quickly."