Here is a small quiz based on these phrases.
Adverbs can describe 1. verbs; 2. adjectives 3. other adverbs.
Just observe which adverbs are describing the verbs, which are describing adjectives and which are describing other adverbs.
Example from sentence No. 7 below:
The adverb 'heavily' is describing the adjective 'sealed (a past participle). The adjectival (not adverbial) phrase 'heavily sealed' is describing its object which is a noun (' bottle '). Dust-covered is adjective number-2 for the noun 'bottle'.
| 1. heavily sealed |
| 2. strangely irrelevant |
| 3. carefully adjusted |
| 4. especially when |
| 5. hardly observed |
| 6. hardly seen |
| 7. heavily gabled |
| 8. permanently defiled |
| 9. softly clapped |
| 10. vainly wriggled |
| 1. The two famous Germans stood beside the stone parapet of the garden walk, with the long, low,____behind them, and they looked down upon the broad sweep of the beach at the foot of the great chalk cliff in which Von Bork, like some wandering eagle, had perched himself four years before(Sherlock Holmes - His Last Bow). |
| 2. But you, Watson"--he stopped his work and took his old friend by the shoulders--"I've____ in the light yet(Sherlock Holmes - His Last Bow). |
| 3. He then closed the door behind the bulky form which followed him and____ed the heavy curtain over the latticed window(Sherlock Holmes - His Last Bow). |
| 4. Only for one instant did the master spy glare at this____nt inscription(Sherlock Holmes - His Last Bow). |
| 5. Putting down his cigar he____fat hands(Sherlock Holmes - His Last Bow). |
| 6. The secretary lay back in the cushions of the luxurious limousine, with his thoughts so full of the impending European tragedy that he____d that as his car swung round the village street it nearly passed over a little Ford coming in the opposite direction(Sherlock Holmes - His Last Bow). |
| 7. What! Tokay!" He indicated a____ dust-covered bottle which stood with two high glasses upon a salver(Sherlock Holmes - His Last Bow). |
| 8. With my hair cut and a few other superficial changes I shall no doubt reappear at Claridge's to-morrow as I was before this American stunt--I beg your pardon, Watson, my well of English seems to be____defiled--before this American job came my way(Sherlock Holmes - His Last Bow). |
| 9. How, then, can England come in,____n we have stirred her up such a devil's brew of Irish civil war, window-breaking Furies, and God knows what to keep her thoughts at home(Sherlock Holmes - His Last Bow). |
| 10." The two friends chatted in intimate converse for a few minutes, recalling once again the days of the past, while their prisoner____ to undo the bonds that held him(Sherlock Holmes - His Last Bow). |
