A verb form question tests whether a sentence needs a main verb or a different verb form. Read the sentence with the blank and count its main verbs, the verbs that say what the subject does or is. Another main verb needs a joining word or its own clause, a subject with a verb. If the blank follows a verb, check what form that verb takes next. A form can sound natural while leaving the verbs unable to work together.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read the second sentence to the period and find the subject and main verb. Include the words after the blank as you check.
- Hint 2
Look at the verb right before the blank. What form does that verb use to say what someone chooses to do?
Step-by-step
Count verbs, then check the form
Step 1Find the main verb
She decided has a subject, She, and a main verb, decided, which says what she did. Does another main verb appear later? before adding the crisp silhouettes of trees gives the timing, and adding can't be a main verb on its own. So the blank needs a form that works after decided, which is already the main verb.
- Step 2
Check the form after decided
What did Patel decide to do? In She decided _____ several washes of diluted blue ink, the missing verb tells us what she chose to do with the ink. The verb decided takes a to form to say what she chose to do. The past tense belongs to decided, so the following verb doesn't have to repeat it.
- Step 3
Build the required form
Use to plus the base form, the plain form of the verb: apply. That gives “She decided to apply several washes of diluted blue ink,” which completes the sentence with the form decided needs. Choice A.