Question

Identify the word which the adverb modifies
The story is well written.
A. Well
B. Written
C. Story
D. No word

Answer 1

Hint: Adverbs are words that add value to the verbs in a sentence. They modify them to give them a sense of intensity or simply change the degree of occurrence of the verb.

Complete step by step answer:
Option A – Well: This word precedes the word ‘written’, which is a verb. This word describes that the story was not only written, but written well; this is the adverb in the given sentence, but not the word that the adverb modifies. Hence this is not the right option.
Option B – Written: This is the verb in the sentence which states an action (writing). However, with the word ‘well’ the value of this verb has increased in a sense to say that it was written well, which is better than the ordinary. This is the word that the adverb modifies; hence this is the right option.
Option C – Story: This is a noun and the subject of the sentence. This word is not modified by the adverb in any way; hence this is not the right option.
Option D – No word: Since we have already concluded that Option B is the right option, this option is invalid.

Thus, the correct option is B.

Note:
It is a common notion that adverbs end with ‘ly’, but in some cases it may be a word without this suffix.
Additionally, while reading the question ensure that it is understood well before answering. The questions are sometimes twisted like the given question, it asks about the word that was modified by the adverb, but not to identify the adverb itself.