Question

Choose the appropriate option:
Laura had hurt her leg, so she _____ walked very well and had to stay at home.
A. Mustn’t
B. Can’t
C. Couldn’t
D. Won’t

Answer 1

Hint:In a grammatically correct sentence, the tense of the verbs used has to remain constant. In the given statements, the verbs are in their past tense form i.e. ‘Laura had, and had to stay.’

Complete answer:
Option A) Mustn’t – is an incorrect answer because ‘mustn’t’ indicates the prohibition of someone from doing something in future. For e.g. ‘I mustn’t go into the forest after dark’. But the statement in the question is referring to an incident that has already happened in the past.

Option B) Can’t – is an incorrect answer because ‘can’t’ indicates the inability of someone to do something presently. For e.g. ‘I can’t sing.’ The statement given in the question is in past tense.

Option C) Couldn’t – is the correct answer because ‘couldn’t indicates the inability of someone to do something in the past. The statement says that ‘Laura had hurt her leg and that she had to stay at home’, therefore this implies that ‘she was unable to walk well’. Hence, the answer is ‘couldn’t’

Option D) Won’t – is an incorrect answer because ‘won’t’ indicates the inability of someone to do something in the future. For e.g. ‘I won’t go to school tomorrow.’ Again, our statement is about an incident in the past.

Hence, the correct answer is Option ‘C’.

Note:While framing an English sentence, it is important that the tense of the verb remains consistent. Tense indicates the time, when the action is being done. It can be in the past, present or the future. In this question the sentence was framed in the past tense, therefore the blank also had to be filled with a verb in its past tense form. Option A and D are verbs used for the future tense and option B is used for the present tense. Hence, these options were incorrect.