Question

Select the word or group of words you consider most appropriate for the blank space.
You are lucky __________ in the ${20}^{th}$ century.

• A. by being born
• B. to have been born
• C. for being born
• D. to have born

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

to have been born

Option B is the correct answer because the preposition 'to' correctly follows the noun 'lucky' and 'to have been born' implies that somebody else cause the event (his birth) to happen.

Options A and C are incorrect because it is grammatically incorrect to use 'by' or 'for' after 'lucky 'as 'by' indicates proximity or agency and 'for' is used to mean belonging to.

Option D is logically incorrect because 'to have born' would indicate that he was born in the 20th century out of his own choice. As a fact, one's own birth is not controllable by oneself.