Question

Complete the sentence with the correct form of the word given in the brackets-
We ________ (see) a big snake on the ground while we were cleaning it.

Answer 1

Hint: Read the given sentence and decipher what it means. Point out in what tense it is. Then, check if the word in the bracket is of the same tense or not. If not, convert it in the desired verb/tense form.

Complete answer: In the given question, the word in the bracket is “see”. It is a verb which means “perceive with the eyes; discern visually”. For example: in the distance, she could see the blue sea. We have to fill in the given blank with the correct tense form of “see”, as required in the given sentence. The sentence is in the past tense as the speaker is saying it after the incident took place. The word “while” denotes that the verb to be used should also be in the past tense.
There are three basic verb tenses: simple present, simple past, and simple future. The verb form for simple present tense is simply the verb’s basic form, such as ‘go,’ ‘eat,’ ‘walk,’ and ‘run.’ These indicate that the action is done in the present. The simple past tense indicates that the action was done in the past, while the simple future tense indicates that the action will be done in the future.
Here, the correct form of the verb ‘see’ which has to be filled in the blank is ‘saw’. It is the past tense of ‘see’. The complete sentence would be – We saw a big snake on the ground while we were cleaning it.

Note: The verb tense you are using should be consistent throughout the sentence. For example, the sentence “We had eaten (past perfect tense) dinner, and then we talked (simple past tense)” should be written as “We ate (simple past tense) dinner, and then we talked (simple past tense)”.