Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
Robert saw the doctor _____ the patient.
a- to examine
b- to have examined
c- having examined
d- being examined
e- examine

Answer 1

Hint: We use the past tense form of the verb to indicate an action that started and ended sometime in the past. Here, we can see the use of ‘saw’.

Complete answer:
As given in the hint, we can conclude that the above-given sentence is trying to indicate that X saw Y examine the patient.
In the given question: We can see the use of ‘saw’ which indicates that the action ended in the past itself. Hence, we need to choose a word that is in its base form.
Now, let’s examine the given options-
Option a- ‘to examine’ is an incorrect option because it is an infinitive that completely changes the meaning of the sentence and suggests that Robert wanted to examine the patient.
Option b- ‘to have examined’ is an incorrect option because we cannot use the past tense form of the verb, ‘examine’.
Option c- ‘having examined’ is an incorrect option because it completely changes the meaning of the sentence.
Option d- ‘being examined’ is an incorrect option because it is grammatically wrong.
Option e- ‘examine’ is the correct option because it produces the appropriate meaning. The correct answer is Option ‘e’.

Note:
Keep in mind, we cannot use two past tense verbs in the same sentence. The past tense form of the verb is also known as ‘preterite’.