Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
Hi, Dave. Pete _______ a shower at the moment. I’ll just _____ and tell him.
a) is having / go
b) had / went
c) is having / come
d) will have/ will go

Answer 1

Hint: Look for pointers suggesting which tense to use. The actions are ongoing and about to happen in the given sentence. These pointers are indicators of certain tenses.

Complete answer:
We can discern whether the actions are happening right now by certain pointers that are given in the sentence in the question. There are two verbs required in the given sentence. So, let us deconstruct the given sentence.
In the first part, the subject is ‘Pete’. The sentence ends with the phrase ‘at the moment’. This means that the action is ongoing, i.e. it has not ended. This means that the tense required is Present Continuous Tense. The present continuous tense is formed with the subject plus the present particle form (-ing) of the main verb and the present continuous tense of the verb to be: am, is, are.
Now, look at the second part of the sentence. It starts with a contraction of ‘I’ll’. This in its non-contracted form is ‘I will’. This indicates future tense. Along with future tense, the verb needs to be a basic root verb. The simple future is a verb tense that's used to talk about things that haven't happened yet. In this case, it is the near future, as someone is on the phone.

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

a) is having / go - The first verb is in the present continuous tense. This is appropriate for the given sentence. The second verb is a normal root verb which completes the simple future tense in the given question. These are the required answers. So, this is the correct option.
b) had / went - The first verb is in the past perfect tense. This is not the correct answer for the given sentence. The second verb is the past participle of the verb ‘go’ . This is also incorrect. These are not the required answers. So, this is an incorrect option.
c) is having / come - The first verb is in the present continuous tense. This is appropriate for the given sentence. However, the second verb is an incorrect choice, given the context of the sentence. These are not the required answers. So, this is an incorrect option.
d) will have / will go - Both verbs are in the simple future tense. This is not appropriate for the given sentence. These are not the required answers. 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.