Quiz on Adverbs

For each question, you will be asked to select the most appropriate order of
modifiers or the only appropriate placement of modifier(s). Submit the form
using the SUBMIT APPLICATION button at the end of the exercise. Your
score will be returned to you in a few seconds.
1. Select the sentence in which usually appears in an appropriate position.
A. She usually shops for clothes at the local thrift store.
B. Usually she shops for clothes at the local thrift store.
C. She shops for clothes at the local thrift store usually.
D. Either "A" or "B" is fine.
2. Select the sentence with the most appropriate order of adverbial phrases.
A. She leaves the island during the months of December and January after
dark.
B. She leaves the island after dark during the months of December and
January.
C. Either "A" or "B" is fine.
3. Select the sentence with the most appropriate order of adverbs and adverbial
phrases.
A. Ramonita prays at St. Matthew's Church fervently for her grandmother's
recovery.
B. Ramonita prays fervently for her grandmother's recovery at St.
Matthew's Church.
C. Ramonita prays fervently at St. Matthew's Church for her grandmother's
recovery.
D. Any one of the above is fine.
4. Select the sentence with the most appropriate order of adverbial phrases.
A. Juan made an appointment to see his doctor at two o'clock on the first
Thursday of July next summer.
B. Juan made an appointment next summer to see his doctor next July at

two o'clock on the first Thursday.

C. Either "A" or "B" is fine.
5. Select the sentence with the most appropriate order of modifiers.
A. My father was born in Cleveland in the backroom of a bakery.
B. My father was born in the backroom of a bakery in Cleveland.
C. Either "A" or "B" is fine.
6. Select the sentence with the most appropriate order of modifiers.
A. Dry the car carefully with a soft fluffy towel.
B. Dry the car with a soft fluffy towel carefully.
C. Carefully dry the car with a soft fluffy towel.
D. Either "A" or "C" is fine.
7. Select the most emphatic position for the adverbial modifier of this
sentence.
A. Rarely do we see this kind of talent on a small-town high school
baseball team.
B. We rarely see this kind of talent on a small-town high school baseball
team.
C. "A" and "B" are equally emphatic.
8. Select the sentence with the most appropriate order of adverbial modifiers.
A. He found the golf clubs that his father had used to win the U.S. Open in
the car trunk.
B. In the car trunk, he found the golf clubs that his father had used to win
the U.S. Open.
9. Select the sentence with the most appropriate position for the adjectival
modifier.
A. These miniature roses only grow to be an inch across.
B. These miniature roses grow to be only an inch across.
C. Either "A" or "B" is fine.

Vocabulary: Fill-in-theBlanks
After each sentence, select the word which best fills in the blank left in that
sentence. When you're done, click on "Submit Application" at the bottom
of the test, and the computer will grade your answers. A definition of the
preferred word will also appear whether you got the answer right or not.
1. The children were so ____________ that the teacher had to yell to be heard.
A. truculent
B. obstreperous
C. morose
D. discreet
2. Coach Calhoun tried to ___________ his team to try harder in the face of
overwhelming odds.
A. flout
B. instigate
C. emulate
D. exhort
3. I don't think these flowers are __________ to New England. At least I've
never seen them.
A. ingenuous
B. fluent
C. indigenous
D. exigent
4. Roberto pretended to know a lot about the opera, but he was really just a
___________ .
A. dilettante
B. supernumerary
C. chimera
D. catalyst

5. The professor became so forceful, so _________ in his expression of

opinions, that students began to leave his course.
A. dormant
B. credible
C. dogmatic
D. lucid
6. Tashonda had read the book in a __________ fashion and couldn't
remember what she'd read.
A. truculent
B. obstreperous
C. cursory
D. discreet
7. The older child had a reputation for ________ trouble in high school, but he
calmed down in college.
A. mortifying
B. appeasing
C. curtailing
D. instigating
8. The professor got in trouble for making __________ remarks about the
Dean of Faculty.
A. benign
B. pejorative
C. pensive
D. blithe
9. My uncle has never been to an art museum; in fact, when it comes to matters
of art, my uncle is a real _________ .
A. patrician
B. philistine
C. martyr
D. hedonist

10. The jury ___________ the mayor of all wrongdoing.

A. exonerated
B. expatriated
C. augmented
D. subjugated
11. A __________ seemed to befall the entire community as it heard the horrid
news.
A. malfeasance
B. blasphemy
C. largess
D. malaise
12. A kind of ____________ seemed to occur when David graduated from
high school. He became a serious student all of a sudden.
A. metamorphosis
B. milieu
C. epithet
D. accolade
13. Esmerelda's dissertation was on such an ___________ subject that no one
could understand it.
A. equitable
B. esoteric
C. auspicious
D. austere
14. Sherman's hold on his job has become so _________ that no one is sure
he'll be working there next month.
A. serendipitous
B. eminent
C. putative
D. tenuous

15. The UConn women basketball team's perfect season ___________ in a

championship win over Tennessee.
A. culminated
B. fulminated
C. fomented
D. alleviated