Question

Fill in the blank with the most suitable verb:
Where _______ you yesterday?
a. was
b. have
c. did
d. were

Answer 1

Hint:
Try to understand the meaning of the sentence. This will help you gauge which verb to use. Discover the noun that points to a certain verb. Then, go through the given options and choose the correct answer accordingly.

Complete answer:
 We can identify the kind of verb needed when we look at the sentence. In order to do that, we need to deconstruct the given sentence-
Firstly, the verb needs to be in the past tense, as the sentence uses the word ‘yesterday’. The word ‘yesterday’ is used to refer to the day previous to today. This means that the verb should be in the simple past tense. Now, the pronoun used in the sentence is ‘you’. This word takes a plural verb. The verb should fit in with the word ‘where’.

Now we know what we are looking for from the given answers. Let’s look at the given options-
a. was - The word ‘was’ refers to ‘. This verb is in the simple past tense and it fits into the sentence, however, the verb does not match the pronoun ‘you’, as it is singular. This means that this is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b. have - The word ‘have’ refers to ‘. This verb is in the simple present tense. This does not fit into the given sentence at all. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
c. did - The word ‘did’ refers to ‘. This verb is in the simple past tense. However, the meaning of this verb does not fit into the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d. were - The word ‘were’ refers to ‘. This verb is in the simple past tense and it fits into the sentence, and, the verb matches the pronoun ‘you’, as it is plural. This means that this is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.

Note:
The sentence gives you a clue as to which verb is required. Do not confuse the two verbs ‘was’ and ‘were’ with each other, as they point to different nouns. The noun is the key to choosing the right verb.