Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
I _____ have a shower yesterday evening.
A) Don’t
B) Didn’t
C) Doesn’t
D) Haven’t

Answer 1

Hint: To fill the blank with the appropriate word, we need to have knowledge about verbs and helping verbs. Helping verbs are those words, which provide additional tense and context to the main verb. For e.g. “She takes her medicines” and “She has taken her medicines” By adding the helping verb ‘has’ the meaning of the first sentence has changed significantly.

Complete answer:
The word ‘have’ is a verb. The blank just before it provides a space to either emphasise the verb or to negate the verb. We can emphasise a verb by adding ‘did’ before a verb. For e.g. I did complete my homework. Trust me.” Considering the given options it is pretty clear that the blank has to be used to negate the verb ‘have’. Therefore, let us check the options for the correct tense, i.e. the past tense.

Now let us look at the given options:
Option A) Don’t – The sentence formed with this option will be, “I don’t have a shower yesterday evening.” This is grammatically incorrect because the word ‘yesterday’ indicates that something happened in the past, but the verb ‘don’t’ or ‘do not’ is a verb in its present tense form. Therefore, this option is incorrect.
Option B) Didn’t – ‘Didn’t’ or ‘did not’ is the past tense of the verb ‘do not’. The sentence is also in the past tense, as indicated by the word ‘yesterday’. Thus, it can be correctly used to fill the blank. The sentence thus formed will be, “I didn’t have a shower yesterday evening.” This option is the right answer.
Option C) Doesn’t – ‘Does not’ or ‘doesn’t’ is again the present tense of ‘did not’. It is used for pronouns like ‘he, she’ and ‘it’. “I doesn’t have a shower” is therefore grammatically incorrect. Also, it is in the wrong tense because we need to fill the blank with the past tense form of a verb. This option is wrong.
Option D) Haven’t – The verb ‘haven’t’ or ‘have not’ is used before the main verb when the sentence is in the present perfect tense. But it has been already established that the sentence is in the simple present tense. “I haven’t have” is grammatically wrong. The correct approach would be “I haven’t had”. Therefore, this option is also wrong.

Thus, the answer is Option (B) i.e, I didn’t have a shower yesterday evening.

Note: The verbs ‘have’, ‘had’ and ‘will have’ are used as main verbs when they are the only verb in the sentence. For e.g. “I have wealth.” “He had a red bag.” “She will have noodles for supper.” These exact same words also act as auxiliary verbs when they are not the main verb in the sentence. For e.g. “I have earned a lot of wealth.” “He had purchased a red bag.” “She will have eaten her supper by then.” These words act as auxiliary verbs in sentences that are in the perfect tense.