Which sentence is grammatically correct?
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A
We quickly consumed the picnic lunch she had made.
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B
We consumed the picnic lunch she had made quickly.
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C
We consumed the picnic lunch quickly she had made.
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D
Quickly the picnic lunch she had made we consumed.
Sentence “We quickly consumed the picnic lunch she had made.” is grammatically correct because it places the adverb "quickly" immediately before the verb it modifies without creating ambiguity.
A) We quickly consumed the picnic lunch she had made.
"Quickly" correctly modifies "consumed," positioned directly before the verb it describes. The participial phrase "she had made" properly modifies "picnic lunch" without ambiguity.
B) We consumed the picnic lunch she had made quickly.
"Quickly" ambiguously modifies either "made" (she made it quickly) or "consumed" (we ate quickly). End placement creates modifier ambiguity that weakens syntactic precision.
C) We consumed the picnic lunch quickly she had made.
This creates a sentence fragment by inserting "quickly" between the object "picnic lunch" and its modifying clause "she had made." The interruption breaks the essential noun-modifier connection.
D) Quickly the picnic lunch she had made we consumed.
This Yoda-like inversion violates standard English word order (Subject-Verb-Object). While poetic inversion exists, this arrangement creates unnatural, confusing syntax inappropriate for standard prose.
Conclusion
Adverbs should be placed as close as possible to the verbs they modify to prevent ambiguity. Sentence A achieves this precision while maintaining standard word order and clear modifier relationships—unlike options creating ambiguity, fragmentation, or unnatural inversion.