Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option:
“___________ I do anything for you?", the secretary asked the stranger.
A) can
B) had to
C) must
D) have to
E) am

Answer 1

Hint:The blank must be filled with a word that indicates a question. The word should also be suitable for a situation in which someone is speaking to a stranger.

Complete answer:
In the given question we have to fill in the blank with the most suitable option from the five given options. To find the correct answer, we need to first understand the structure of the given sentence.
Let us understand the sentence in two ways. Firstly, the secretary, who is the speaker, is asking a question to a stranger, and hence, the form of address will be respectful and polite. Secondly, the portion of the sentence in the inverted commas is a question as it ends with a question mark. There is also no other word denoting a question in the sentence. Therefore, the blank must contain a word that indicates a question.
Now, let us take a look at the given options, one by one.
Option ‘A, can’, can be the correct answer. This is because it is polite, respectful, and can be used at the beginning of a sentence to indicate a question.
Option ‘B’, and ‘D’ are incorrect as the words ‘had to’ and ‘have to’ are not used at the beginning of a sentence that denotes a question.
Option ‘C’, must, is incorrect as ‘must’ indicates an obligation but for the secretary, the other person is a stranger and hence there is no obligation that neither of them has towards the other.
Option ‘E’, am, is incorrect as its usage does not give any meaning to the given sentence.
Hence, the correct answer is option ‘A’, can as it can be used at the beginning of a sentence, politely ask something to a stranger, and also gives an appropriate meaning.

Note:
When confused with the given options, place all of them, one by one in the blank and check which option fits the given blank perfectly.