In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. (1) _________ a letter came to inform them that Raka’s mother Tara had another breakdown and was in a nursing home in Geneva and that Raka’s grandmother Asha, (2) _________ seen another grandchild safely into the world, was flying to Switzerland to be with her, Nanda Kaul (3) _________ her lips, (4) _________ the blue sheets of paper with that distasteful sprawl (5) _________ them, and hid them in her desk.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 2.
- (a)have
- (b)has
- (c)having
- (d)had
Answer
Why
Correct — C. The blank sits inside a phrase fenced by commas: "Raka's grandmother Asha, ____ seen another grandchild safely into the world, was flying to Switzerland".
That clause already has its finite verb — was flying. A second finite verb cannot join it without a conjunction or a relative pronoun, and the passage supplies neither.
What the slot needs is a non-finite form: the perfect participle having seen, which marks the seeing as finished before the flying began.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)have — Have is a finite plural present form. The subject Asha is singular, and the sentence already carries its finite verb in "was flying".
- (b)has — Has seen is finite too, so the sentence would run "Asha has seen ..., was flying" — two finite verbs with nothing joining them. It also puts a present perfect beside a past narrative.
- (d)had — Had is grammatical only with a relative pronoun in front of it: "Asha, who had seen another grandchild safely into the world, was flying". Without "who" the clause has no subject of its own.
Concept
A phrase set off by commas inside a sentence is usually non-finite: it borrows its subject from the main clause and cannot carry a tensed verb.
The perfect participle is having + past participle. It says the action was complete before the main verb, which is exactly the sense here — Asha saw the grandchild safely born, and is now on a plane.
The present participle (seeing) would claim the two happened together, and a finite form would need who, which or a conjunction to license it.
Test any option in such a blank by asking a single question: does the sentence still have exactly one finite verb per clause? Three of the four options here add a second one.
Key facts
- A perfect participle is "having + past participle" and marks an action completed before the main verb.
- A participial phrase is non-finite and takes its subject from the main clause.
- A finite verb inside a comma-fenced phrase needs a relative pronoun, as in "Asha, who had seen".
- The finite verb of this clause is "was flying".
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing had because the event is earlier, without noticing that no relative pronoun introduces the phrase.
- Testing the blank against the noun Asha alone and never reading through to "was flying".
A cloze blank asking which form of the verb the sentence can take is also set on 19 Sep 2024, 12:30 at English Q.22, where the options run have, have been, had and has.
Locate the clause's finite verb before you look at the options; that is what rules the finite forms out here.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.