Verb tense and form

The question reads: “Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?” Every grammar question uses that wording, so look at the choices. On a verb question all four are forms of one verb, such as “index,” “indexed,” “had indexed,” and “will have indexed.” What changes across them tells you where to look:

• “Index” next to “indexes”: the subject decides.
• “Indexed” next to “has indexed” or “will index”: the passage’s time clues decide.
• An “-ing” word such as “indexing,” or a “to” word such as “to index”: check whether the sentence already has its verb.

Run every check that applies.

“The Ridgeway library started lending vegetable seeds in 2015. Since then, its collection of seed packets from local gardens ______ to more than three hundred varieties.”

• A. have grown
• B. has grown
• C. grew
• D. growing

1. Find the subject by asking what grew. It’s the collection, which is one thing, so the verb takes “has.” A’s “have grown” matches “packets” or “gardens,” the words closest to the blank. A is out.
2. Find the time. “Since then” points back to 2015, in the sentence before, so the growing runs from 2015 up to now. “Grew” cuts it off in the past, so C is out.
3. Check the form. Read the sentence with D in it: “Its collection of seed packets from local gardens growing to more than three hundred varieties.” It never says what the collection did, because “growing” has no time on it. It’s the same test Sentence boundaries uses: to stand alone, a sentence needs a subject and a verb with a time on it. D is out.

That leaves B.

“Since the trial” fits both choices, so only the subject can decide.

A choice can pass this check and fail the next one. “Was checked” fits “recording,” but “since the trial” runs up to now, so it’s still wrong. The subject-verb agreement lesson has more on finding the subject.

Look for words that say when: a date, “since,” “each year,” “next,” or the other verbs near the blank.

Some verbs don’t add “-ed” for the past, like “rose” and “has risen,” but they follow the same table.

Two sentences can sit at two times: “Dictionaries once listed entries alphabetically. Today, newer digital dictionaries ______ each entry by handshape.” “Once” covers the old way only, as “formerly” and “until recently” would. The blank’s own sentence says “Today,” so it takes “index.”

What a display or a study shows can take the present too, when the passage describes it as it is now: “The display traces the history of grain storage.”

A study told as a finished event takes the past too: “A 2019 study showed that the lake was shrinking.” Let the other verbs decide.

“Will” needs a word that points ahead, such as “next year” or “the next survey.” A past date rules it out, so “In 2016, the survey will record water depths” is wrong.

A sentence needs a verb with a time on it, such as “demonstrates” or “is converging.” An “-ing” word counts as that verb only with a helping verbA verb like “is” or “will” that comes before the main verb and helps it. in front, as in “is converging” or “were swimming.” A “to” word never counts.

The blank can sit after “that” or “whether”:

“The map helps researchers determine whether the routes carved by snow ______ at the same basin.”

“Helps” is the verb for “the map.” The words after “whether” have their own subject, “the routes,” and they need their own verb: “converge.” “Converging” and “to converge” leave them without one.

It works the other way too. Once the sentence has its verb, the blank can’t add a second one with nothing joining them.

“Needs” works the same way: “needs to dry.” After “can,” “may,” “must,” or “will,” use the plain form with nothing added: “can hold,” “may settle.”

“Each bundle of wool soaked in dye, Lucia compares the resulting shades.”

The full sentence starts after the commaThe mark , which separates parts of a sentence., with “Lucia compares.” The opening sets the scene, and because it names its own noun, “each bundle of wool,” it doesn’t have to describe Lucia.

To check a choice in the opening, cover everything after the comma and read the opening alone. If it could stand alone as a sentence, the choice is wrong, because a comma alone can’t join two full sentences.

If an opening reads oddly, put “With” in front. “With each bundle of wool soaked in dye, Lucia compares the resulting shades” works, so “soaked” fits. It helps on harder ones, where the full sentence also starts with an “-ing” word:

“Preparation costs spread across more portions, offering a discount increased earnings.”

The full sentence is “offering a discount increased earnings,” with “increased” as its verb. “With preparation costs spread across more portions” works, and “were spread” would make a second full sentence before the comma.

An opening with no noun of its own also takes a form with no time on it: “Having seen the results, Lucia repeated the test.” “Had seen the results” would need a subject. Whether that kind of opening describes the right person is covered in the modifiers lesson.

With “to,” both “to filter and store” and “to filter and to store” are correct, so don’t rule out a choice because it repeats or drops the second “to.”

Work the three examples, then try five more. Their explanations use a few names this lesson skips. A finite verbA verb that shows when something happens, like “carried” or “is.” Every sentence needs one, and forms like “to carry” or “carrying” don’t count.Read the lesson is a verb with a time on it. “Has risen” is the present perfect and “had risen” the past perfect. A describing form such as “soaked” is a participleThe “-ing” or “-ed” form of a verb used to describe something. In “a box sealed in 1908,” it’s sealed..