Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
The teacher told us ____ noise in class.
Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
The teacher told us ____ noise in class.
The correct option is A not to make
Let’s examine the sentence: “The teacher told us ____ noise in class.” The sentence does not require a verb as the teacher is not asking the students to do anything. Rather, the teacher is asking the students to maintain a state of silence by not making noise. So the sentence requires a noun to represent ‘the state of not making noise.’ None of the options has a noun, however, Option B has an infinitive ‘to make’ used with ‘not.’ An infinitive is a non-finite verb. In other words, it cannot be the main verb in a sentence. An infinitive can be used as a noun, an adjective or an adverb. Hence, Option B is the correct answer as it would work as noun in the sentence to convey the sense of ‘state of not making noise.’ Other options cannot be used as they all represent action through verbs.
Let’s examine the sentence: “The teacher told us ____ noise in class.” The sentence does not require a verb as the teacher is not asking the students to do anything. Rather, the teacher is asking the students to maintain a state of silence by not making noise. So the sentence requires a noun to represent ‘the state of not making noise.’ None of the options has a noun, however, Option B has an infinitive ‘to make’ used with ‘not.’ An infinitive is a non-finite verb. In other words, it cannot be the main verb in a sentence. An infinitive can be used as a noun, an adjective or an adverb. Hence, Option B is the correct answer as it would work as noun in the sentence to convey the sense of ‘state of not making noise.’ Other options cannot be used as they all represent action through verbs.
