In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. 2022 sees us entering a third year of the pandemic, and the harm 1________ children is increasingly evident: A record rise in child poverty. Setbacks to progress on 2_________ vaccinations. Disruption to education for entire generation. That harm 3________ as an unintended side effect of the world's efforts to manage the crisis. COVID has been a uniquely dis-equalizing crisis. Lopsided 4________ vaccines aside, learning losses have been greatest among poorest children, and job losses have been disproportionately borne by women and youth. What next for the world’s children in the year ahead? As in the past two years, prospects for children will continue to hinge 5________ on the pandemic and how it is managed.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank No. 3.
- (a)have emerged
- (b)had emerged
- (c)has emerged
- (d)was emerged
Answer
Why
Correct — C. The subject is That harm — a single uncountable noun — so the auxiliary has to be singular: has, not have.
The tense is present perfect. The harm arose during the pandemic and is still on the table: the passage opens by calling it increasingly evident, then lists it in the three fragments that stand between that sentence and this blank.
Present perfect is the form for a past event whose result stands now.
Both halves of the choice, number and tense, point the same way: That harm has emerged as an unintended side effect.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)have emerged — have is the plural auxiliary, and harm is singular and uncountable. The plural children sitting nearby is not the subject and must not pull the verb across to it.
- (b)had emerged — had is past perfect and needs an earlier past event to stand before. The passage is anchored in the present, so there is no such reference point to be earlier than.
- (d)was emerged — Emerge is intransitive and therefore has no passive, so was emerged is not a form of the verb. Harm emerges by itself, and nothing emerges it.
Concept
Two questions settle an auxiliary blank, and you should ask them in order.
Number first. Harm is uncountable, has no plural, and takes a singular verb — as do damage, progress, evidence and advice.
Tense second. Present perfect ties a past action to the present moment. Reach for past perfect only when a second, later past event is in the text for it to precede.
The passage keeps its own verbs in the present: 2022 sees us entering a third year, the harm is increasingly evident, COVID has been a dis-equalizing crisis.
Present perfect sits inside that frame, and a past perfect would leave the reader hunting for the earlier event.
Key facts
- Harm is uncountable and takes a singular verb, like damage, progress and evidence.
- Present perfect (has emerged) marks a past event whose result stands now.
- Past perfect (had emerged) needs a second, later past reference point in the text.
- Emerge is intransitive, so there is no passive was emerged.
Study next
Common traps
- Agreeing the verb with children, the nearest noun, instead of with harm.
- Reaching for had emerged because the events being described are over.
A cloze can give one blank to agreement alone.
At 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.22 the four options are have, have been, had and has, and has is keyed because the subject is the number of heart-attacks in young Indians — singular head noun, plural nouns trailing behind it.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.