Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.

You ought to ______ exercise regularly.
a) take
b) do
c) taking
d) doing

Answer 1

Hint: Look for pointers suggesting which tense to use. The sentence is in an imperative form of a sentence, which is indicative of a very specific kind of verb.

Complete answer:
We can identify the kind of verb needed when we look at the sentence. In order to do that, we need to deconstruct the given sentence:
Firstly, the given sentence is in the imperative form. So, naturally, it makes use of an imperative verb ‘ought’. These verbs are always followed by an infinitive. Secondly, the other half of the infinitive has already been given, ‘to’.

An infinitive is formed from a verb but doesn't act as a verb. It acts as a noun, adjective, or adverb, and it is actually made up of two words: to + verb. These two words act together as a noun, adjective, or adverb.

Now we know what we are looking for. Let’s look at the given options:

a) take - This verb is in the present tense. It is perfectly correct to use this word with ‘to’ to make it into an infinitive. However, the meaning of the verb does not fit into the sentence. This is not the correct infinitive to use in this case. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b) do - This verb is also in the present tense. It is perfectly correct to use this word with ‘to’ to make it into an infinitive. The meaning of this verb fits perfectly into the given sentence. This is the correct infinitive to use in this case. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
c) taking - This verb is in the continuous tense. It is not correct to use a continuous tense with the word ‘to’ in order to make an infinitive. This would make an incorrect infinitive. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d) doing - This verb is also in the continuous tense. It is not correct to use a continuous tense with the word ‘to’ in order to make an infinitive. This would make an incorrect infinitive. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note:
Choose the most appropriate option given the context of the sentence. Make sure all the forms of the verb are aligning with each other and work with each other perfectly.