Select the option that best completes the sentence: Since you have been touring all day, ______
- (a)you must be tired
- (b)you ought to have been tired
- (c)you could had been tired
- (d)you might not be tired
Correct — A, 'you must be tired'. The clause 'since you have been touring all day' states the evidence, and 'must' is the modal of confident deduction — the near-certain conclusion drawn from that evidence. 'You must be tired' is the natural inference.
- (b)you ought to have been tired — 'ought to have been' expresses a past expectation that was not met — it clashes with the present, ongoing cause given by 'have been touring'.
- (c)you could had been tired — Grammatically impossible: a modal must be followed by 'have' (not 'had') in the perfect, so 'could had been' can never be correct — the well-formed shape would be 'could have been'.
- (d)you might not be tired — 'might not' expresses doubt/denial of tiredness, contradicting the cause-and-effect the sentence sets up with 'since'.
Modals of deduction: 'must' signals a confident conclusion from evidence, while 'might/could' signal mere possibility; a modal in the perfect is always 'modal + have + past participle', never 'modal + had'.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the correct completion: The lights are on, so someone ______ at home.
- (a)must be
- (b)must had been
- (c)might not be
- (d)ought to have been
Answer(a) must be — visible evidence supports the confident deduction 'must be'.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the grammatically correct option.
- (a)She could had finished it.
- (b)She could have finished it.
- (c)She could has finished it.
- (d)She could had finish it.
Answer(b) She could have finished it — a modal takes 'have + past participle' in the perfect, never 'had'.