Question

Fill in the blank with the appropriate verb tense:
I am eating the cake I _____ this morning. (make)
a. made
b. will have been making
c. will make
d. none of the above

Answer 1

Hint: The given sentence already tells us the situation. Look for pointers suggesting which tense to use. The actions are completed in the given sentence. These pointers are indicators of a certain tense.

Complete answer:
We can identify the kind of verb needed when we look at the sentence. To do that, we need to deconstruct the given sentence: Firstly, the verb needs to be in the past tense, as the sentence using the phrase ‘this morning’. So, naturally, the verb should be in the simple past tense. This is because the action has already been completed in the given sentence that morning. The simple past tense is used to describe events that took place in the past and are constructed by adding the suffixes ‘d’ or ‘-ed’ to root verbs. The words ‘was’ and ‘were’ are also sometimes used as helping verbs. The word ‘was’ is for singular subjects and the word ‘were’ is for plural subjects.

Now we know what we are looking for from the given answers. Let’s look at the given options-
a. made - This verb is in the simple past tense. This verb fits in perfectly into the given sentence as it clears up the meaning. This is the required answer. So, (a) is the correct option.
b. will have been making - This verb phrase is in the future perfect continuous tense. This is not the required tense for the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
c. will make - This verb phrase is in the simple future tense. This is not the required tense for the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d. none of the above - We already know that this is an incorrect option as we have found the correct option from the above-given options. So, this is not the required answer.

Note: In the simple present, most regular verbs use the root form, except in the third-person singular (which ends in -s).
(i)First-person singular: I write
(ii)Second-person singular: You write
(iii)Third-person singular: He/she/it writes (note the ‑s)
(iv)First-person plural: We write
(v)Second-person plural: You write
(vi)Third-person plural: They write