Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option:
I have never heard him ________ French.
A. To speak
B. Speaking
C. Spoken
D. Being spoken
E. To have spoken

Answer 1

Hint: The use of the words “have” and “heard” together shows us that the sentence is in “present perfect tense” so technically the answer should have “ing with the first form of the verb, which is the continuous form of the tense”

Complete answer: The present perfect is used to indicate a link between the present and the past. The time of the action is before now but not specified, and we are often more interested in the result than in the action itself. Now, let us analyze the given options: Option A ‘To speak’ is incorrect. The option is an example of a base form of a verb which can’t be used with the present perfect tense. Therefore, it’s not a suitable answer.
Option B ‘ Speaking’ is the correct answer as “speaking” is the present participle form of tense which completely goes with the present perfect form of tense. Also, it matches the hint correctly.
Option C ‘Spoken’ is the incorrect answer because “spoken” is the past participle form of the verb, whereas the sentence is in the present perfect tense.
Option D ‘Being spoken’ is incorrect because “being” is used here which is mostly used with the continuous form of the tense but the sentence is not in the continuous form.
Option E ‘To have spoken’ is also incorrect because “have spoken” is an example of past tense which can’t be used with the present perfect form of tense.

Therefore, option b is the correct answer.

Note: The present perfect of any verb is composed of two elements: the appropriate form of the auxiliary verb to have (present tense), plus the past participle of the main verb. The past participle of a regular verb is base+ed, e.g. played, arrived, looked.