Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
The teacher told us _____ noise in class.
a) don’t make
b) not to make
c) not make
d) not making

Answer 1

Hint: In a reported speech of an imperative sentence, the quote is not repeated as someone said it. It is to be converted into an infinitive, and in this case, a negative infinitive.

Complete answer:
 Usually, before prepositions and after verbs, one makes use of infinitives. They are also used when converting imperative sentences into reported speech.
An infinitive is formed from a verb but doesn’t act as a verb. It acts as either a noun, adjective, or adverb. It is constructed in the following way: to + verb. These two words together act as an infinitive. Infinitives are a form of a non-finite verb, meaning they are not subject to change.
The infinitive of a verb has two forms: the to-infinitive and the infinitive without to. The to-
the form consists of to plus the base form of the verb-
-I want to speak to you.
-We came here to work, not to play.
The form without to consists of the base form of the verb-
-She made us wait for half an hour.
-John lets the dog sleep on the sofa.

To form the negative infinitive, place not before the to- or zero infinitives: e.g. not to worry.
Now we know what we are looking for. Let’s look at the given options-
a) don’t make - This word cannot be made into an infinitive as it is in the wrong tense and it is not invariable. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b) not to make - This option is an infinitive, as it is invariable, and it contains the word ‘to’, which means it is a full infinitive, and it is negative. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
c) not make - This option is grammatically incorrect. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d) not making - This word cannot be made into an infinitive as it is in the wrong tense and it is not invariable. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note: Understand the meaning of the given sentence and then go through the given
options. Make sure it is grammatically correct. Then, choose the correct option.