the masked villain silently laughed while watching the hero struggle to escape. which of the following part of speech is the word ‘silently” in the previous sentence?
verb
adverb
preposition
adjective
The correct answer and explanation is:
The correct answer is adverb.
Explanation:
In the sentence, “The masked villain silently laughed while watching the hero struggle to escape,” the word “silently” is an adverb. Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They often provide information about how, when, where, or to what extent something happens.
How “silently” functions as an adverb:
- Modifying the verb “laughed”: In the sentence, “silently” describes how the villain laughed. Instead of laughing loudly or audibly, the villain’s laughter was quiet and without sound. This is a clear example of an adverb modifying a verb.
- Answering the question “How?”: Adverbs frequently answer questions like how, when, where, or to what extent. In this case, “silently” answers the question: How did the villain laugh? The word conveys the manner in which the action (laughing) occurred.
Why “silently” is not a verb, preposition, or adjective:
- Not a verb: Verbs indicate actions, occurrences, or states of being. Examples include run, laugh, be, or escape. “Silently” does not express an action but instead modifies the action word “laughed.”
- Not a preposition: Prepositions are words like in, on, under, with, or after, which show relationships between a noun (or pronoun) and other parts of a sentence. Silently does not serve this function.
- Not an adjective: Adjectives describe or modify nouns. For example, in “masked villain,” masked is an adjective describing the noun villain. Since silently modifies the verb laughed and not a noun, it is not an adjective.
In conclusion, “silently” is classified as an adverb because it describes the manner of the villain’s laughter. Adverbs like this enhance sentences by adding detail about how actions are performed.