Question

Fill in the blank with a verb that agrees with the subject and not with the complement:
Jason _____ not studying well for the exams. [Basic]

• A. had
• B. had been
• C. was
• D. did

Answer 1

The correct option is C was

In order to fill in the blank with the most appropriate helping verb, we must understand the 'subject and verb agreement'. A subject is a person, thing, or a concept, in a sentence. A sentence always describes a person, thing or a concept and that is called the 'subject' of the sentence. The rest of the sentence is a compliment (which has the object in it). A subject and a verb should always agree in a sentence. If the subject is singular (example: Raj), the verb will also be singular (does). If the subject is plural (We), the verb will also be plural (do).

As the given sentence asks us to fill in the blank with a verb that agrees with the subject and not with the complement, we will focus on the subject only.

Option A - 'Had' means to have possessed something in the past, and it is also used to represent past perfect tense. It is usually associated with a main verb. That's why we can't use 'had' with the subject here. Hence, option A is incorrect.

Option B - 'Had been' is used to show the state of being of a person/object in the past. It is also used to represent past perfect continuous tense. 'Jason had been not' is a grammatically incorrect sequence of words. Hence, option B is incorrect.

Option D - 'Did' is a helping verb in the past tense which is usually used with the verb in its original form. As the verb 'studying' is in the participle form, we can't use 'did' here. Hence, option D is incorrect.

Option C - 'Was' is used with a subject even without a verb to show the state of being of a subject in a sentence. We can say 'Jason was not studying...' because 'was + verb+ing' is used to show the past continuous tense. Hence, option C is the correct answer.

'Jason was not studying well for the exams.'