Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: usefully
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This question tests spelling skills in English vocabulary. Competitive exams often include such questions because accurate spelling is essential for clear written communication. Here, you must look at each option carefully and decide which one matches the standard, correct English spelling used in formal writing and dictionaries. The given options resemble familiar words, but most of them contain typical spelling mistakes that confuse learners. Understanding how word families are formed, such as full and fully, can help you spot the correct pattern and reject incorrect ones.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
To solve spelling questions, you compare each option with the correct standard spelling you know or can logically infer. Many incorrect words are created by changing or omitting a letter, while still sounding similar when spoken. You should recall common word patterns and endings. For example, words ending with fully usually come from an adjective plus fully, such as careful and carefully, use and usefully. If a word looks unfamiliar or visually awkward, it is often a misspelling. Comparing options to words you have seen in books, newspapers, and reliable online content is a useful strategy.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Examine option a, dievorce. The familiar word is divorce. The sequence ie is incorrect here, so dievorce is a wrong spelling.
Step 2: Examine option b, carapase. The correct English word is carapace, referring to the hard shell of certain animals. The given word replaces c with s, so this is also incorrect.
Step 3: Examine option c, usefully. This is a standard adverb formed from the adjective useful plus the suffix ly. It matches the correct dictionary spelling.
Step 4: Examine option d, shufles. The correct verb form is shuffles with a double f before les. The single f here shows that the word is misspelt.
Step 5: Examine option e, definately. This is a very common spelling mistake. The correct form is definitely, with the sequence ite, not ate. So definately is wrong.
Step 6: Since only usefully matches standard spelling, option c is the correct answer.
Verification / Alternative Check:
A quick verification method is to imagine each word in a formal sentence. For example, you might write the sentence This tool is very usefully designed. If that feels natural, you can then recall that the base word is useful and that the adverb usefully is created in the same way as carefully and helpfully. For the other words, your reading experience will probably tell you that you have actually seen the spellings divorce, carapace, shuffles, and definitely, not the altered forms given in the options. If you check any good English dictionary or reliable spell checker, you will see that usefully appears exactly as in option c, while all other options trigger a spelling correction. This confirms that usefully is the only correctly spelt word among the choices provided.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option a, dievorce, is wrong because the correct spelling is divorce, with the letters di and vorce, not dievorce.
Option b, carapase, is incorrect because the scientific term is carapace, ending with ace rather than ase.
Option d, shufles, is wrong since the verb shuffle doubles the consonant f before adding les, giving shuffles.
Option e, definately, is a common error; the correct spelling is definitely with the pattern nite, not nately.
Common Pitfalls:
A frequent mistake is to rely only on how a word sounds when spoken. English spelling is not always phonetic, so similar sounds can correspond to different letter patterns. Another pitfall is overlooking doubled consonants, as in shuffle, where many learners forget that f should be doubled. Some words, such as definitely, are known for being misspelt repeatedly, and learners sometimes accept the wrong form as correct simply because they have seen it many times on informal social media. To avoid such errors, it is helpful to read high quality English content regularly and to check doubtful words in a dictionary.
Final Answer:
The correctly spelt word is usefully, so option c is the correct answer.
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