Question

Find the error in the following sentence.
I do not wish to make a formal complaint, but I would have been better pleased if you gave the award to the person who best deserved it.
a- To make
b- Better pleased
c- Gave
d- Who
e- No error

Answer 1

Hint: We can see the use of the present perfect tense, ‘have been’ in the sentence. Hence, we need to use the past perfect tense to complement it.

Complete answer:
As given in the hint, the present perfect tense indicates an action that was completed before the present, whereas the past perfect tense indicates an action that was completed before another action took place in the past.
For example- I had studied for the test before he came over. Here, we can understand that the action of studying was completed before the action of X’s arrival.
In the given question- The correct answer should be; I do not wish to make a formal complaint, but I would have been better please if you had given the award to the person who deserved it.
Here, we have used ‘had given’ to indicate that this action was completed before the action of being pleased in the past.
Now, let’s examine the given options-
Option a- ‘To make’ is an incorrect option because it is an infinitive verb that is grammatically appropriate.
Option b- ‘Better please’ is an incorrect option because it does not have any error.
Option c- ‘Gave’ is the correct option because we need to use the past perfect tense of ‘gave’.
Option d- ‘Who’ is an incorrect option because it has no error. The correct answer is Option ‘c’.

Note:
 The structure of the past perfect tense is; Subject + had + 3rd form of the verb or the past participle + Object. For example- She had given the book to me.