Question

Fill in the blanks with a suitable option:
“Whom did you see at the concert last night?”
She asked us whom ________ at the concert the night before.
(a)I’d seen
(b)We’d seen
(c)We saw
(d)I saw

Answer 1

Hint: Look for pointers suggesting which tense to use. The action has technically occurred in the given sentence, however, at a given time. These pointers are indicators of certain tenses.

Complete answer: In English grammar, tense is a category of speech that helps to express the time reference in any given sentence. These tenses are usually expressed by using specific forms of verbs, particularly in their respective patterns of conjugation.

The main tenses found in many languages include the past, present, and future. This action happened at a specific time. This means that the tense that fits perfectly is the past perfect tense. The past perfect tense is usually formed by adding the helping verb ‘had’ to a past participle.
Now we know what we are looking for. Let’s look at the given options:
(a)I’d seen - This phrase is in the past perfect tense, however, the subject does not fit into the sentence as it doesn’t match the direct object pronoun ‘us’. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(b)We’d seen - This phrase is in the past perfect tense, and the subject fits into the sentence as it matches the direct object pronoun ‘us’. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
(c)We saw - This phrase is not in the past perfect tense so it does not fit into the sentence in the question. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(d)I saw - This phrase is not in the past perfect tense so it does not fit into the sentence in the question. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note: Choose the most appropriate option given the context of the sentence. Make sure all the forms of verbs are aligning with each other and work with each other perfectly.