Question

read the sentence.

the administrator of the company, the woman overseeing the department, added new personnel to better augment the existing sales force.

which part of the sentence functions as an adverb?

of the company
overseeing the department
to better augment
existing sales force

Explanation:

Analyze the grammatical roles of each option

• "of the company" is a prepositional phrase modifying the noun "administrator" (adjectival function).
• "overseeing the department" is a participial phrase modifying the noun "woman" (adjectival function).
• "to better augment" is an infinitive phrase (with a split infinitive "better") that modifies the verb "added," explaining why the personnel were added (adverbial function of purpose).
• "existing sales force" is a noun phrase acting as the direct object of the infinitive "augment."

Identify the adverbial function

• The phrase "to better augment" answers the question "Why did the administrator add new personnel?"
• Infinitives that answer "why" function adverbially to modify the main verb of the sentence.

Answer:

• of the company
• overseeing the department
• to better augment (Correct answer)
• existing sales force