Keep quiet means to make no noise, to be silent. Its second meaning is to say nothing about something and tell no one: keep quiet about the plan.
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keep quiet; keep quiet about + something; keep + something + quiet
- Please keep quiet during the exam, even if you finish early.
- The baby has just fallen asleep, so let's keep quiet for a while.
- He kept quiet about his new job until the contract was signed.
What changed
First versionPlease keep silence in the reading room.
RevisionPlease keep quiet in the reading room.
Keep silence may look like a natural way to ask for quiet. But in this sense keep is followed by a word describing a state, as in keep calm or keep warm, not by a noun. So silence was changed to quiet. Keep silent is also possible, but it sounds formal and literary.
Be quiet! is a sharp order to stop talking right now. Keep quiet is about not making noise for a while, or saying nothing about something for a long time: Can you keep quiet until the film ends?
Your turn
The children promised to keep ___ while I was on an important call.
Show the answer
quiet — Keep is followed by a word describing a state: keep quiet, like keep calm. Quietly describes how something is done, and it isn't used after keep in this sense.
Write about a time you had to keep quiet about something. Say what it was and for how long.
I kept quiet about my promotion for a week because the announcement wasn't official yet.
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