The given sentence is divided into four segments. Select the option that has the segment with an adverbial usage error.
Lily and her mother / brightly handled / the difficult / situation.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The correct answer is option 3 i.e. brightly handled.
Error concept: Incorrect adverb usage
What is wrong: The adverb brightly is incorrectly used to modify the verb handled. The intended meaning requires an adverb that describes skill or competence, not brightness.
Grammatical concept: Adverbs must correctly modify verbs in a contextually appropriate way.
Incorrectness of the concept in context: “Brightly handled” is unidiomatic; the appropriate adverb is ably.
How to correct: Replace brightly handled with ably handled.
Correct phrase/ correction: ably handled
Final sentence: Lily and her mother ably handled the difficult situation.
Hence, the chosen option will be correct.