Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word-
She said she _____ her friend for ages.
a- didn’t
b- hadn’t seen
c- hasn’t seen
d- doesn’t seen
e- saw

Answer 1

Hint: We use the past perfect tense to indicate an action or event that took place before another action in the past itself.

Complete answer:
Let us look at the structure and usage of past perfect tense-
Positive Structure- Had + third form of the verb/past participle
Negative Structure- Had + not + third form of the verb/ past participle
Usage: I had not written a diary for a few weeks.
In the given question: We can conclude that X hadn’t seen her friend for ages. We have used ‘hadn’t to indicate an action that took place before another action in the past.
Now, let’s examine the given options-
Option a- ‘didn’t’ is an incorrect option as it is given in the simple past tense negative form of the verb ‘do’.
Option b- ‘hadn’t seen’ is the correct option as it is given in the past perfect form of the verb ‘see’.
Option c- ‘hasn’t seen’ is an incorrect option as it is given in the present perfect form of the verb ‘see’.
Option d- ‘doesn’t seen’ is an incorrect option as it is grammatically incorrect.
Option e- ‘saw’ is an incorrect option as it is given in the simple past tense form of the verb ‘see’.

Note:
Keep in mind that the reporting verb of the sentence helps in identifying the correct tense form. Here, we can see the use of ‘said’. Hence, we have used the past perfect tense form.