Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option
A policeman ______ me crossing the street yesterday.
a) seen
b) saw
c) Has seen
d) Will see
e) Had seen

Answer 1

Hint: The tense "yesterday" has been used in the sentence which clearly indicates that the event has happened in the past. Thus the sentence shall be in the past tense.

Complete answer:
Option b is the correct answer because saw is a simple past. A policeman saw me crossing the street yesterday. The sentence is absolutely grammatically correct.
Option a is the wrong answer because we usually need a helping verb with "seen". She had seen him with me at the market. I have seen this movie.
Option c is incorrect because it is in the present tense with the usage of "has".
Option d is absolutely wrong because it is in the future tense. It is in direct contrast with the word "yesterday". With "will see", the word used should have been "tomorrow".
Option e is wrong because "had seen", though is in the past tense, requires the occurrence of a second event. The policeman had seen me crossing the street yesterday which made me feel safe. "Made me feel safe" is the second event that completes a sentence when a tense like "had seen" is used.

Note:
 It is highly possible that students get confused between options b and e. But as has been explained, "had seen" is generally used when the sentence is talking about two events. Using had seen is not wrong but we have to choose the most appropriate option (read the instruction of the question carefully).