Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
I went to the airport _________ to meet her, but she didn’t arrive.
A) To have expected
B) Expecting
C) To expect
D) To be expected

Answer 1

Hint: Gerunds are the words that are formed with the verb but act as a noun. A gerund is the ‘+ing’ form of the verb. For example: Playing is fun, borrowing etc. Playing is gerund and it acts as a noun.

Complete answer:
Option A) To have expected – is an incorrect answer because ‘to have expected’ is in the past tense. And we do not require past tense to be filled in the blank. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.

Option B) Expecting – is the correct answer because the meaning of expect is ‘regard (something) as likely to happen or suppose or look forward to’ and expecting is a gerund because it is ending with ‘ing’. Here to fill the blank we need a gerund as it acts as a noun. Thus, this is the correct answer.

Option C) To expect – is an incorrect answer because ‘expect’ is in the present form and we do not need any tense to fill the blank. Thus, ‘to expect’ does not fit in the blank and this is an incorrect answer.

Option D) To be expected – is an incorrect answer because as stated in option A ‘expected’ is in the past tense and we do need any form of the tense to fill the blank. Thus, this option is an incorrect answer.

Hence, the correct answer is Option B.

Note: In short gerund is required to fill the blank and the use of gerund i.e. expecting is giving complete meaning and the sense in the sentence. So, in this particular sentence, the word in the blank acts as a noun thus becoming the subject of the sentence and also like a verb by taking up the object.