Question

Complete the sentence with the most appropriate tense form:
I saw Tom yesterday but ________ (not see) him today.
a. I have seen him
b. I had seen him
c. I haven’t seen him
d. I did not see him

Answer 1

Hint: Consider the duration for which the action has been going on in the present.

Complete answer:

The Present Tense denotes those actions that take place in the present scenario. To frame verbs in the present tense, you must conjugate the infinitive of the verb. Conjugate means to make the verb match the subject. ‘Infinitive’ refers to the ‘to form’ of a verb. E.g. - to meet.
There are four types of present tenses:
The Simple Present Tense is used when an action is indefinite in the present. It doesn’t make use of any auxiliary verb or helping verb.
The Present Continuous Tense is used when an action is continuous in the present. The infinitive form of such verbs is preceded by the auxiliary am or is.
The Present Perfect Tense is used when an action has been completed in the present. The infinitive form of such verbs is preceded by the auxiliary has/have.
The Present Perfect Continuous Tense is used when an action has continued up until a point in the present. The infinitive form of such verbs is preceded by the auxiliary has/have been.
In the above question, the action started in the past and it’s considered as terminated in the present tense as the action never occurred. Therefore, it is in the Present Perfect Tense. Following the rules of conjugation and negation, the correct answer is option ‘c’ I haven’t seen him.

Note: To avoid making errors, consider when the action started and ended.