Unharmed? Harmlessly??
Why can't I use harmlessly in this sentence??

Luckily they both escaped UNHARMED, but their boat was badly damaged and they had to abandon their journey.

The answer in my book is UNHARMED, but i chose HARMLESSLY instead.there is a verb (escaped) in the sentence, why shouldn't I use a adv.(harmlessly) to describe it?

Question

Unharmed? Harmlessly??
Why can't I use harmlessly in this sentence??

Luckily they both escaped UNHARMED, but their boat was badly damaged and they had to abandon their journey.

The answer in my book is UNHARMED,  but i chose HARMLESSLY instead.there is a verb (escaped) in the sentence, why shouldn't I use a adv.(harmlessly) to describe it?

Answer

'Unharmed' is correct. I means that the people were not harmed in the boat accident. In other words, it means that the accident did not harm the people, or that they escaped without being harmed.

The adverb 'harmlessly' describes a way of doing something without causing harm to anything else. If people escape harmlessly, it would that they mean escaped in a manner which didn't harm other people  - something which doesn't really make a lot of sense.

Answer

Unharmed is an adjective. Harmlessly is an adverb.

Examples: 
The burglars released the hostages unharmed. 
The burglars harmlessly held the hostages.

Answer

This can sound tricky, here is my brief explanation on the difference:

"Unharmed" is an adjective in English, which is used to describe the result of a circumstance.

"Harmlessly" is an adverb in contrast.  Adverbs modify a verb or adjective, they themselves are not adjectives.

Here are some examples to compare:
The soldier emerged unharmed from the conflict. 
This radon beam will pass through the muscle tissue harmlessly.

Let me know if these make sense!

Answers · 5

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