In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. Social media companies (1)______ claim that they promote democracy and are dedicated to the empowerment of ordinary individuals. The assertion (2)______ entirely unfounded. Recent history shows how (3)______ citizens have been mobilised against totalitarian regimes on social networking sites. Starting from MeToo to Black Lives Matter, digital networks (4)______ indispensable in bringing together critical voices against social and political (5)______ .
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank no. 4.
- (a)can
- (b)were
- (c)that
- (d)have been
Answer
Why
Correct — D. 'indispensable' is an adjective, so whatever fills the blank has to end in a form of be.
The subject is plural — digital networks — so the perfect auxiliary is have, not has.
The time frame is a span reaching the present: 'Starting from MeToo to Black Lives Matter'. The sentence just before it is already in the present perfect, 'citizens have been mobilised'.
Present perfect of be, plural: have been → option (d).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)can — can is a modal with no be after it, so 'indispensable' has nothing to attach to. 'Digital networks can be indispensable' would work, 'can indispensable' does not.
- (b)were — were is grammatical and agrees in number, but the simple past closes the period off, while the passage argues the networks still matter and the sentence before it is perfect.
- (c)that — that is a relative pronoun, not a verb. Dropping it into the blank leaves the whole sentence without a main clause.
Concept
Two things have to line up in a verb blank: agreement and aspect.
Agreement is mechanical. Count the subject — 'digital networks' is plural, so the perfect auxiliary is have.
Aspect is a reading decision. The present perfect covers a stretch that began in the past and is still open; the simple past shuts it. A span phrase like 'starting from X to Y', plus a neighbouring sentence already in the perfect, points to the open reading.
The adjective adds a third requirement: the filler must end in a form of be.
were is the honest competitor here. It is not ungrammatical, and the sentence would read perfectly well on its own. The decision is aspectual and is taken from the passage around the blank rather than from the sentence itself.
Key facts
- have been is the present perfect of be — a state that began earlier and still holds.
- The simple past were closes the period, while the present perfect keeps it open to the present.
- The perfect auxiliary agrees with the subject, so plural 'digital networks' takes have, not has.
- A predicate adjective such as indispensable needs a form of be, which neither 'can' nor 'that' supplies.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing were because MeToo and Black Lives Matter feel like finished events.
- Filling the blank with that and reading the rest as a relative clause, which leaves no main verb.
- Matching the auxiliary to a nearer noun such as 'voices' instead of to 'digital networks'.
Auxiliary and tense blanks recur in these cloze sets — 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.22 keys 'has' against 'have', 'have been' and 'had', and 23 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.22 keys 'are' against 'was', 'were' and 'is'.
This shift tests the present perfect passive at English Q.15 and the past perfect at English Q.10.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.