Question 33 of 51intermediate🔧 ApplyFill in the Blanks1 mark

They ____ the shorter route, but they didn't know about it. (past possibility or speculative)

Correct Answer

could have taken

Exercise: Vocabulary and Structures in Context | Q: 2 | (Page 10)
For More Understanding

Explanation

The instruction specifies using 'could' to express a 'past possibility or speculative' action. To show past possibility or speculation, we use the modal perfect structure 'could have + past participle (V3)'. Since the sentence talks about a route, the appropriate verb is 'take', making its past participle 'taken'. Therefore, 'could have taken' correctly fills the blank.

Solution Steps

  1. Step 1: Identify the grammatical function required: past possibility or speculative.

  2. Step 2: Apply the correct grammatical structure for past possibility using 'could': 'could have' + past participle (V3).

  3. Step 3: Choose the appropriate verb for the context ('take' for a route) and convert it to the past participle ('taken').

  4. Step 4: Combine to fill the blank: 'could have taken'.

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