Identify the underlined part of speech in the following sentence : The difficult child scarcely touched the green vegetables on her plate.

Question

Accepted Answer

The underlined word "scarcely" is an adverb because it modifies the verb "touched." Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, providing information about how, when, where, or to what extent an action is performed. In this sentence, "scarcely" tells us *to what extent* the child touched the vegetables; she touched them only a little or almost not at all.

Here's why the other options are incorrect:

1. **Verb:** A verb is a word that describes an action, occurrence, or state of being. "Scarcely" does not describe an action; it describes *how* an action was performed. "Touched" is the verb in this sentence.

2. **Adjective:** An adjective modifies a noun or pronoun. "Scarcely" does not describe the child, the vegetables, or the plate. It describes the *manner* in which the child touched the vegetables.

3. **Preposition:** A preposition shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and another word in the sentence. Examples include "on," "in," "at," "to," and "from." "Scarcely" does not show a relationship between nouns or pronouns.