Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
After I _________ my dinner, I typed my report.
A) had
B) have
C) had had
D) will have

Answer 1

Hint:There are two actions in the given sentence, where the first act takes place before the second. Such a sentence is in the past perfect tense.

Complete answer:
In the given question, we have been given four options from which we need to choose the most appropriate option to fill in the blank.
Let us try and understand the given sentence.
The word ‘typed’ indicates that the sentence is in the past tense. The word ‘after’ indicates that the speaker ate dinner before he or she started typing. Hence, the action of having dinner was completed before typing and at the point, the speaker is speaking, the typing had been completed as well.
An activity that has been completed in the past is indicated by a past perfect tense, and hence the word that is used in the blank must convert the sentence into the past perfect tense.
With this understanding, let us look at the given options, one by one.
Option ‘A’, had, is incorrect as it is in the simple past tense.
Option ‘B’, have, is in incorrect as it is in the simple present tense.
Option ‘D’, will have is incorrect as it is in the simple future tense.
Hence, the correct answer is option ‘C’, ‘had had’ as it is in the past perfect tense.

Note:
Though the word ‘had had’ might seem grammatically incorrect, it has no errors, with the first ‘had’ being auxiliary.