Question

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate option:
Our fate is in her hands now. If she _____ tickets we _____ away.
a. has bought / would fly
b. buys / shall fly
c. buy/fly
d. bought/fly
e. bought / would have flown

Answer 1

Hint: The first sentence already tells us the required tense. The actions are to be completed in the given sentence. These pointers are indicators of a certain tense.

Complete answer: Let us look at the given sentences first:
The first sentence states that the subjects’ fate is in ‘her’ hands. This means that they are still counting on her to do something. So, it is an incomplete action, in the present tense. The next sentence starts with ‘if’. This word is a conditional word. So, the tense used after this, for this sentence, should be simple present tense. And, the tense after the word ‘we’ should be in the simple future tense.

The simple present (also called present simple or present indefinite) is a verb tense which
is used to show a repetition of an action, of a habit or a generalisation. The simple present just uses the base form of the root verb.

Now we know what we are looking for. Let’s look at the given options:
a. has bought / would fly - The first verb is in the present perfect tense and the second verb is in the conditional tense. These are not the required tenses and they do not fit into the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b. buys / shall fly - The first verb is in the simple present tense and the second verb is in the simple future tense. These are the required tenses and they fit into the given sentence. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
c. buy/fly - Both the verbs are in the simple present tense. These are not the required tenses and they do not fit into the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d. bought / fly - The first verb is in the past tense and the second verb is in the present tense. These are not the required tenses and they do not fit into the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
e. bought / would have flown - Both these verbs are not in the required tenses and they do not fit into the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note: The formula for the simple future is will + [root form of verb]. It doesn’t matter if the subject is singular or plural; the formula for the simple future doesn’t change. To make the simple future negative, the formula is will + not + [root form].