Question

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word-
Thousands of traffic accidents ________ by careless drivers every day.
(a)Are caused
(b)Will cause
(c)Caused
(d)Causing

Answer 1

Hint: Read the given sentence carefully. Pay attention to its subject, predicate and the object and try to find the tense it is written in. Now, go through the options and choose the one which is in the same tense as the given sentence.

Complete answer: Tense is a category that expresses time reference. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their conjugation patterns. The main tenses found in many languages include the past, present, and future. The given sentence conveys that ‘thousands of traffic accidents take place only because of some careless drivers'. We have to fill in the blank with the correct tense form of the word “cause”. The given statement states a general fact, there is no future tense in this.
Now, let us examine all the given options to find out the correct answer :
Option ‘a’ is Are caused. It is the correct option as ‘are caused' is generally used in mere facts. It is in the simple present tense and can be used for stating facts.
Option ‘b’ is Will cause. It is in the future tense and cannot be used for facts. So, it is an incorrect option.
Option ‘c’ is Caused. It is in the simple past tense and cannot be the correct answer.
Option ‘d’ is Causing. It is in the present continuous tense. It cannot be used here as the given sentence is not only being continued but also will be continued till eternity because it is a fact.
As we have analysed all the given options, we can easily figure out the correct answer. Here, the correct option to be filled in is – are caused. The complete sentence would be – Thousands of traffic accidents are caused by careless drivers every day. Hence, the option ‘a’ is the correct option.

Note: We use the present tense, for repeated or regular actions in the present time period, facts, habits and things that are always / generally true.