noun+adverb or adjective+adverb or adverb+adverb [closed]

There was a sentence and it ended with this:

(bla bla bla) ______ equally.

And the options are:

  1. Exception.
  2. Exceptional.
  3. Exceptionally.

I wish I could provide the whole context, but this is all I can remember from my previous test.

Anyway, I chose exceptionally equally which sounds awkward to me. It doesn't matter to know the previous words, I mean, my point of my question is which one precedes the adverb "equally"?


The sentence feels awkward when looking at the first definition of 'exception':

  • exception: a person or thing that is excluded from a general statement or does not follow a rule.

Using the first definition in a sentence feels clunky:

At the dog show, both dogs fell below the height exception equally.

Because here, 'equally' feels unnecessary. Since both dogs failed to meet a height requirement with equal measure, there's no need to relate the degree to which they failed some binary (pass/fail) test.

But when looking at the idiomatic phrase 'take exception':

  • take exception: to object to something : to feel or express disagreement with or opposition to something, e.g. "Domi squirted water at fans from the penalty box and a fan took exception."

It seems 1. is the answer, e.g.:

Both fans at the hockey game took exception equally.