Question

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate words.
_____________ he____________ three children?
A) Does/have
B) Does/has
C) Do/have
D) Has/have

Answer 1

Hint: For a simple interrogative sentence, or question, “do” or “does” is generally accompanied by the subject, and then the conjugated verb. In order to solve the question we need to look at the subject and choose the options accordingly.

Complete answer:
The statement given in the question ends with a question mark. Therefore, it is an interrogative sentence. Interrogative sentences sometimes begin with interrogatory words, like “when, why, what, where and how” and at other times with ‘auxiliary verbs’. For e.g. Does, do, did, have, has, will etc. These verbs use the same form as in a regular sentence. “Has, does, was, is,” for singular third persons and “have, do, were,” for plural third persons. With this knowledge we can check the given options for the most appropriate one.

Let us look intot he given options:
Option A) Does/have - ‘Does’ is used for singular subjects like “he,” “she,” “it,” “this,” “that,” etc. For example: He does not like to dance. ‘Have’ is used with the pronouns, such as I, you, we, and they, whereas, has is used with he, she, and it. For example, “They have two rabbits.” But in interrogatory sentences ‘have’ is used for all pronouns. Therefore, both these words are appropriate for their respective blanks. Hence it is the correct option.
Option B) Does/Has - ‘Does’ is used correctly for the first blank, as we can see in the previous option. But the word ‘has’ is used incorrectly for the second blank. ‘Has’ is used for the pronoun ‘he’ in all kinds of sentences, except for the interrogatory ones. The statement in the question is an interrogatory sentence, hence the correct word should be ‘have’. Thus, this option is incorrect.
Option C) Do/Have - ‘Do’ is used in the case of plural subjects like “you,” “we,” “they,” “these,” “those,” but the pronoun in the question is ‘he’ i.e. singular. Though ‘have’ is correct for the second blank, ‘do’ is wrong for the first blank. Hence this option is incorrect.
Option D) Has/Have - ‘Has’ is a word which is used when we are asking about a verb in the sentence. For e.g. Has he eaten? Has she gone? etc. This is not the case here, as we are asking about a noun i.e. children. ‘Have’ is again correct for the second blank, but the word ‘Has’ is not appropriate for the first blank. Hence, this option is also incorrect.

Hence, the complete answer will be- Does he have three children?
Thus, the correct answer is Option A i.e, Does/have.

Note: Do, does and did often create confusion in the English language. They are all forms of the verb ‘to do’ which can be used as an action verb as well as an auxiliary verb. When we want to ask yes/no questions then we use “Do and does”, and their usage depends on the subject.
- ‘Do’ is used in the case of plural subjects like “you,” “we,” “they,” “these,” “those,” etc. For Example: They do not like cats.
- ‘Does’ is used for singular subjects like “he,” “she,” “it,” “this,” “that,” etc. For example: He does not like cats.