Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word-
I am sorry. I can’t help you at the moment. I ______ dinner.
a) Will cook
b) Am cooking
c) Cook
d) Cooked

Answer 1

Hint: Read the given phrase/sentence carefully. Try to make out the meaning of it and find the subject or the predicate or the main object of the sentence.

Complete answer:
The given sentence conveys that the speaker is sorry because he/she can’t help someone at the current moment, because he/she is having dinner. We have to fill in the blank with the correct tense form. There are four options given, we have to choose one.
Now, let us examine all the given options to find out the correct option-
Option ‘a’ is Will cook. It is in the future tense, whereas the given sentence has to be the in the present tense. So, it cannot be the correct answer.
Option ‘b’ is Am cooking. It is in the present tense, as the given sentence, so it cannot be the correct answer. The given sentence was also in the present tense.
Option ‘c' is Cook. It cannot be the correct answer as it doesn’t have any particular tense form. So, we will eliminate this option.
Option ‘d’ is Cooked. It cannot be the correct answer as it is in the past tense. So, we will eliminate this option.
As we have analyzed all the given options, we can easily figure out the correct option. Here, the correct word is – am cooking. Hence, option ‘b’ is the correct option.

Note:
In the given sentence, we can clearly see that the speaker isn’t capable of helping the listener at the moment, because he is cooking. That is, clearly in the present tense.