In the question below choose the word(s) or phrase(s) which best fill(s) the gap:
I heard that Kayode's car was stolen last night. It .... be true because i saw him .... it, this morning.
The correct answer is D. cannot/driving
The best answer to fill the gap is D. cannot/driving. This is because the sentence is a type of sentence called a present unreal conditional.
The present unreal conditional is used to talk about an impossible or unlikely situation in the present or future and its consequences. The structure of the present unreal conditional is:
- If + past simple, would + infinitive
- Would + infinitive, if + past simple
The first part of the sentence (I heard that Kayode’s car was stolen last night) is not part of the conditional, but it provides the background information for the situation.
The second part of the sentence (It … be true because I saw him … it, this morning) is conditional, which consists of an if-clause and a main clause.
The if-clause describes the condition that is impossible or unlikely to be true, and the main clause describes the consequence that would happen if the condition were true.
The gap is in both the if-clause and the main clause.
The gap in the if-clause is a modal verb that expresses the possibility or impossibility of the condition.
The modal verb should be in the past tense, which shows that the condition is contrary to the present or future reality.
The correct modal verb is cannot, which means that there is no possibility of the condition being true. The other options are incorrect because they use different modal verbs that do not express impossibility.
Should not means that there is a low possibility or a negative expectation of the condition being true, but it does not rule out the possibility completely.
The gap in the main clause is a verb that follows the subject him.
The verb should be in the -ing form, which is called the present participle. The present participle is used after certain verbs to express an action that is happening at the same time as another action.
One of the verbs that is followed by the present participle is to see, which means to perceive something with the eyes. Therefore, the correct verb is driving, which means to operate a vehicle.
The other options are incorrect because they use different forms of the verb that do not match the present participle. To drive is the infinitive form, which is used to express the purpose or intention of an action.
Driving is the gerund form, which is used to express an action or state as the subject or object of a sentence.
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