Question

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of the verb. The sentences are in the present tense.
1) My parents have (have) always believed in me.
2) The fire in the adjacent buildings ____ (be) under our control now.
3) His work _____ (have) always been a priority for him.
4) Today although the market ______ (be) open, half the stalls _____ (have) closed early.
5) In their urgency to leave the house, my neighbours ______ (have) forgotten to latch the main gate.
6) My notebook with the colourful sticky notes _____ (be) missing.
7) All the students in the class, along with their class teacher, _____ (have) been asked to participate in the parade.
8) Two of my uncles and one of my cousins _____ (be) settled in Sweden.

Answer 1

Hint:
We have to write the present tense of the words given in the bracket because the instruction of the question says that the sentences are in the present tense. So we already know which form of tense is to be used. A present tense tells us what is happening in the present, right now, or nowadays.

Complete answer:
1) My parents have (have) always believed in me.
This has already been solved to give an example.
2)The fire in the adjacent buildings is (be) under our control now.
Here, the subject is “fire”. Fire is singular so we have to use “is”.
3) His work has (have) always been a priority for him.
“Work” is treated as a singular noun and uncountable. No matter how much work a person has, it is always treated as a singular noun and thus we use “has”.
4) Today although the market is (be) open, half the stalls have (have) closed early.
The word “market” is singular but “stalls” is plural. So we have to use “is” and “have” respectively.
5) In their urgency to leave the house, my neighbours have (have) forgotten to latch the main gate.
“Neighbours” is plural and thus we have to use “have” to refer to them.
6) My notebook with the colourful sticky notes is (be) missing.
Note here that the “is” is referring to the notebook (singular) and not the sticky notes (plural).
7) All the students in the class, along with their class teacher, have (have) been asked to participate in the parade.
In this sentence we are talking about all the students as well as the class teacher collectively. So we have to use “have”.
8) Two of my uncles and one of my cousins are (be) settled in Sweden.
Two uncles and one cousin make three people in all which is plural. So we use “are” which is the plural form of “is”.

Note: It is of utmost importance to see what is the subject that the verb is referring to. For example, in sentence 6, the verb is referring to the notebook and not the sticky notes even though it is placed right before the verb. While using the present tense, check that the time period refers to the present.