Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option.
How long ________ Mr. Brown?
(a)do you know
(b)did you knew
(c)have you known
(d)will you known

Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option.How long ________ Mr. Brown?(a)do you know(b)did you knew(c)have you known(d)will you known

Vedantu Content Team · Accepted Answer

Hint:  Look for pointers suggesting which tense to use. The action’s time is now, but not specified in the given sentence. These pointers are indicators of certain tenses.Complete answer: The words ‘how long’ refer to asking the time period over which an action happened. This means that the action in the given sentence has happened now, but also refers to the past so as to establish a link between them. In this case, only the present perfect tense can be used.The present perfect is a verb tense which is used to show that an action has taken place once or many times before now. The present perfect is most frequently used to talk about experiences or changes that have taken place, but there are other less common uses as well. This tense is formed by have\/has + the past participle.Now, we know what we are looking for, let’s look at the available options:(a)do you know - This phrase is in the simple present tense. It is not in the present perfect tense, it does not fit into the context of the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.(b)did you knew - This phrase is grammatically incorrect. It is not in the present perfect tense, it does not fit into the context of the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.(c)have you know - This phrase is in the present perfect tense. This fits perfectly into the given sentence. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.(d)will you known - This phrase is grammatically incorrect. It is not in the present perfect tense, it does not fit into the context of the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.Note: Try to look for certain pointer words. They will help you understand which option you are looking for. Then, go through the given options, and choose the most appropriate option accordingly.