Question

Complete the sentence with the most suitable option:
A: Robert is unhappy because he can’t find his passport.
B: If only he __________.
a) Could have found it
b) Had been able to find
c) Could find it
d) Had found it

Answer 1

Hint: A verb is a content word that denotes an action, occurrence, or state of existence. A verb is the word class that serves as the predicate of a sentence.

Complete answer:
In the given question, we have to find out which of the options includes the answer in the simple present tense ( as ‘he’ cannot find the passport in the present) and suggests a possibility (of ‘him’ finding the passport ).
Let us thus analyze the options given to us in this question-
Option (a.), 'could have found it', refers to ‘have’ which is used in perfective tense. Therefore, option (a.) is incorrect as we need simple present tense.
Option (b.), ‘had been able to find', refers to ‘had’ which is used in perfective tense. Therefore, option (b.) is incorrect as we need a simple present tense.
Option (c.), ‘could find it', refers to ‘could’ which suggests the possibility and ‘find’ which is in simple present. Therefore, option (c.) is correct.
Option (d.), ‘had found it', refers to ‘had’ which is used in perfective tense. Therefore, option (d.) is incorrect as we need a simple present tense.

Note:
In this question, it will be helpful for the student to recall the concept of tenses. Tense is a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time. There are three tenses - past, present, and future.