The following sentence has been split into four segments. Identify the segment that contains a grammatical error.
Having known that / the train was already on the platform, / they ran fastly / to catch it.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The correct answer is option 1 i.e. they ran fastly.
Error concept: Incorrect adverb usage.
What is wrong: The word fastly is incorrect because fast itself is both an adjective and an adverb.
Grammatical concept: Some adverbs don’t take the -ly form; fast is already an adverb.
Incorrectness of the concept in context: Adding -ly to fast creates a non-standard word.
How to correct: Replace fastly with fast.
Correct phrase/ correction: they ran fast
Final sentence: Having known that the train was already on the platform, they ran fast to catch it.