They kept the idea <u>secretly</u>.
- (a)secretive
- (b)secret
- (c)secretively
- (d)No improvement
Correct — B, secret. 'Keep' here takes an object plus an adjective describing the state the object is held in, so the slot needs the adjective 'secret' — 'They kept the idea secret.' An adverb cannot fill an object-complement slot.
- (a)secretive — 'Secretive' describes a person or manner inclined to hide things; an idea is the thing being hidden, not the one doing the hiding.
- (c)secretively — This is an adverb of manner and would tell you how they kept it, whereas the sentence needs a word describing the condition the idea was kept in.
- (d)No improvement — The original 'secretly' is also an adverb, so it modifies the act of keeping rather than describing the idea, and the intended sense of concealment is lost.
An object-complement item — verbs such as keep, make, paint, call and consider take an adjective, not an adverb, after their object.
- Compare 'keep the door open', 'make him happy' and 'paint the wall white', where the adjective describes the object.
- An adverb after such a verb changes the meaning to how the action was performed.
- Reaching for the -ly form because the word follows a verb.
Asked as a sentence-improvement item that puts an adverb where an adjective complement belongs.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which option best improves the underlined part — The news made her <u>angrily</u>.
- (a)anger
- (b)angry
- (c)angerly
- (d)No improvement
Answer(b) angry — 'make' takes an adjective describing the object.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which option best improves the underlined part — Please keep the door <u>closely</u>.
- (a)close
- (b)closed
- (c)closing
- (d)No improvement
Answer(b) closed — the slot needs a participial adjective giving the door's state.