Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option.
If you ___ harder last year, you ___ English well now.
a) worked/had known
b) work/will know
c) had worked/would know
d) will work/ know
e) would work/ would have known

Answer 1

Hint: A verb is a content word that denotes an action, occurrence, or state of existence. The 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 contain the answer for the first blank in the past perfect tense, as it is used to express an action completed in the past, and the answer for the second blank in the present tense with an auxiliary.
Let us thus analyze the options given to us in this question:
Option (a.), 'worked/had know’, refers to ‘worked’ for the first blank, which is in the simple past tense. Therefore, option (a.) is incorrect as we need the answer for the first blank to be in the past perfect tense.
Option (b.), ‘work/will know', refers to ‘work’ which is in the simple present tense. Therefore, option (b.) is incorrect as we need the answer for the first blank to be in the past perfect tense.
Option (c.), ‘had worked/would know', is correct as it includes both answers in the right tense.
Option (d.), ‘will work/ know', refers to ‘will work’ which is in the future tense. Therefore, option (d.) is incorrect as we need the answer for the first blank to be in the past perfect tense.
Option (e.), ‘would work/ would have known', refers to ‘would work’ which is in the present tense. Therefore, option (d.) is incorrect as we need the answer for the first blank to be in the past perfect tense.

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