Question

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word.
Please, start your meal. If you _____ your soup now, it _____ cold.
(a)didn’t have / would go
(b)had / got
(c)can eat / doesn’t go
(d)don’t have / will go

Answer 1

Hint: A verb is a content word that denotes an action, occurrence, or state of existence. Verb is the word class that serves as the predicate of a sentence.

Complete answer: In the given question, we have to find out which of the options includes-
A negative verb phrase in simple present tense for the first blank (as if the soup is not eaten in the present, it will become cold).
A future tense verb phrase for the second blank (as a conditional possibility for the future is being discussed).
Let us thus analyze the options given to us in this question:
Option (a), 'didn’t have / would go', refers to past tense only.
Therefore, option (a) is incorrect.

Option (b), ‘had / got', refers to past tense only.
Therefore, option (b) is incorrect.

Option (c), ‘can eat / doesn’t go', refers to ‘can’ which is not a negative term and ‘doesn’t’ which is not in future tense, but in simple present tense.
Therefore, option (c) is incorrect.

Option (d), ‘don’t have / will go', refers to a negative verb phrase in simple present tense for the first blank and a future tense verb phrase for the second blank.
Therefore, option (d) is correct.

Note: In this question, it will be helpful for the student to recall the concept of tense. Tense is a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time. There are three tenses- past, present, and future.