Question

Choose the correct form of auxiliary verb from the given options-
My father’s wallet _____ lost.
a. Was
b. Were
c. Are
d. Do

Answer 1

Hint: Auxiliary verbs help in adding functional or grammatical meaning to a sentence. They are used with main verbs to express mood or tenses.

Complete answer:
As given in the hint, we combine main verbs with helping verbs to form verb phrases.
Example- I will study next year. Here, ‘I will’ is the helping verb or the auxiliary verb that modifies the mood and tense of the main verb ‘study’.
In the given question: ‘My father’ is a subject in the singular form, while ‘lost’ is the main verb that is given in the simple past tense form of the verb.
Now, let’s examine the given options-
- Option a- ‘Was’ is a singular auxiliary verb used with a singular subject. ‘Was’ is used to indicate an action that took place in the past. Example- I was singing last night. Hence, it is the correct option.
- Option b- ‘Were’ is a plural auxiliary verb used with a plural subject. ‘Were’ is used to indicate an action that took place in the past. Example- We were singing last night. Hence, it is an incorrect option.
- Option c- ‘Are’ is a plural auxiliary verb used with a plural subject. ‘Are’ is used to indicate an action that takes place in the present. Example- We are singing a song. Hence, it is an incorrect option.
- Option d- ‘Do’ is a plural auxiliary verb used with a plural subject. ‘Do’ is used to denote an action of performing or doing something. Example- They do their work on time. Hence, it is an incorrect option.

> The correct answer is Option ‘a’.

Note: Auxiliary verbs are most importantly used to show time and continuity. The most commonly used forms of the auxiliary verbs are have, be and do.