Question

The assailants while fleeing _______ a large number of people. Choose the correct word to fill in the blank.
A. Have slay
B. Have slain
C. Has slain
D. Has slay

Answer 1

Hint: Verbs have historically been defined as words that explain the state of being or behaviour. By their place in a sentence, verbs may also often be recognized.

Complete answer:
From the Latin word ‘verbum’, the word verb has originated. It is a word (part of speech) that reveals an action, an event, or a state of existence in syntax. The basic form is the infinitive verb in the normal definition of English, without or with the ‘to’ particle. Verbs are inflected in many languages to encode voice, mood, tense and aspect. Verbs of tenses: present, to demonstrate that some event is taking place; past, to suggest that some events are already over; future, to demonstrate that events will take place.

Verbs differ by form, and the kinds of words that follow them and the relationship of the verb itself with these words decide each type. Three basic forms are usually distinguished, described by the number of arguments for their valence: transitives, intransitive, ditransitive verbs. There are special grammatical uses of certain verbs.

Now, let us take a look at the given sentence. The sentence is in 3rd person plural form along with past continuous tense. As the sentence is in plural form, we will use have. Also, slain will be used after have as the sentence is in past tense.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘B’.

Note: Before answering the questions, identify the elements of the sentence in which it is written i.e. person, number. Also, look at the tense in which it is written.