Question

Fill in the blank with the most suitable non-finite verb to complete the sentence:
He tiptoed around the house as he didn't want ______ anyone.

• A. woke
• B. wake
• C. to wake
• D. waking

Answer 1

The correct option is C to wake

The verbs that do not explain the tense of the sentence and do not agree with the subject are called non-finite verbs. Non-finite verbs are usually infinitives, gerunds and participles.

NOTE: We often use the infinitive form of the verbs to explain 'why' in a sentence. As the given sentence explains the reason why he tiptoed, we will use the infinitive here.

Option A - 'Woke' is the past form of the verb, it is not an infinitive. Hence, option A is incorrect.

Option B - 'Wake' is a verb in its original form, it is not an infinitive. Also, we can't mix two verbs at a time, 'He didn't want' and 'wake'; we can mix a main verb and an auxiliary but as both the verbs are action verbs, we can't place them together. Hence, option B is incorrect.

Option D - 'Waking' is a gerund and not an infinitive. As the action is not real, we will not use a gerund/participle. We will use an infinitive here, as the action is not happening for real. Hence, option D is incorrect.

Option C - 'To wake' is an infinitive here, and as explained above, we can use 'to wake' here. Hence, option C is the correct answer.

'He tiptoed around the house as he didn't want to wake anyone.'