Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate words
My father ______ an apple now. He ______ an apple every day.
a) eating/eats
b) eats/is eating
c) ate/is eating
d) Is eating/eats

Answer 1

Hint: We have to find out the tense of the word- whether it will be past, present, future, or continuous. If the work is being done at the moment, that is, it is still continuing, it is a continuous tense, and a word with the suffix -ing is used. If it is something which is done regularly/every day/generally, it is present tense. Past tense is something already done and the future tense is something which is about to be done.

Complete answer:
In the given sentences, the first sentence has the word “now”. So we can assume it is a continuous tense, more specifically, present continuous tense. The second sentence has the time period “every day” mentioned so it is present tense. Thus, accordingly, the correct option is option d since we need a helping verb (am, is, are, etc.) with “eating”. The correct sentences will be: My father is eating an apple now. He eats an apple every day.
Option a is wrong because the word “eating” does not have a helping verb before the main verb (eating).
Option b is wrong because the first part of the answer is in the present tense and the second part is in the present continuous tense.
Option d is wrong because the first part of the option is in the past tense (ate is the past tense of eat).

Note:
It is advised to read the options carefully and place them in the sentence. Just because option a also has a continuous tense does not mean it is the right answer since the helping verb “is” is missing. This can be easily spotted when placed in the given sentence.