Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word-
He will not come to the funeral, lest the relatives should _________ him up.
a) Beat
b) Have beaten
c) Had beaten
d) None of these

Answer 1

Hint: Read the sentence carefully. Try to know make out the core meaning of the sentence and then check which one of the four options fits the best in the given blank.

Complete answer:
The sentence conveys that if he doesn’t come to the funeral, preventing the relative’s intention to beat him up. The sentence is also in the future tense, so you mist fill-up the blank accordingly. There are four options given, which are the different tense forms of “beat”.
Now, let us examine all the given options to find out the correct option -
Option ‘a’ is Beat. It is in simple present/future tense. It can be used in the given blank. It means to hit repeatedly; defeat. For example, The teacher beat the students.
Option ‘b’ is Have beaten. It is in the past tense and cannot be the correct answer. It cannot fit in the given blank as if it does, the sentence would be grammatically incorrect.
Option ‘c’ is Had beaten. This is a wrong formation of the verb and cannot be used in the given blank. So, we will eliminate this option.
Option ‘d’ is None of these. We will choose this option if all the other three options aren’t correct or suitable for the given question. Hence, option ‘a’ is the correct option.

Note:
We cannot use a helping verb in this sentence after ‘should’, as it would be grammatically incorrect. So, we will not choose the other two options.