Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
We live in the city. If only we _____ in the city
a. Lived
b. Didn’t live
c. Haven’t lived
d. Living

Answer 1

Hint: The student should read the sentence carefully to understand when the event is supposed to be taking place. Then the options should be carefully distinguished to find out whether they are correct or not.

Complete answer: In this question, it will be helpful for the student to recall the concept of tenses. Tense is a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time. There are three tenses - past, present, and future. The simple past tense shows that you are talking about something that has already happened. Unlike the past continuous tense, which is used to talk about past events that happened over a period of time, the simple past tense emphasizes that the action is finished.
Let us analyze the options given to us in this question -
Option (a.), 'lived', refers to ‘live’ in the simple past tense in the positive form.
Therefore, option (a.) is incorrect as the given sentence indicates that the speaker wishes they did not live in the city. Thus the correct option should be negative.
Option (b.), ‘didn’t live', refers to ‘simple past tense’ in the negative form.
Therefore, option (b.) is correct as the sentence expresses a wish, which is expressed in the simple past tense and it is also in the negative form as the speaker wishes they did not live in the city.
Option (c.), ‘haven’t lived', refers to ‘past perfect tense’.
Therefore, option (c.) is incorrect as the sentence expresses a wish, which is expressed in the simple past tense.
Option (d.), ‘living', refers to ‘past continuous tense’.
Therefore, option (d.) is incorrect as the sentence expresses a wish, which is expressed in the simple past tense. Option b is the correct answer

Note: there is a formula for making simple past verbs negative, and it’s the same for both regular and irregular verbs (except for the verb to be). The formula is did not + [root form of verb]. You can also use the contraction didn’t instead of did not.