A verb form question with a noun before the blank tests how the verb fits the words around it. Find the sentence’s subject and main verb, then read the phrase containing the blank. Check what the earlier verb needs: some verbs take a noun followed by a to form, while others take an -ing form. Ask who does what, because active forms show the noun doing something and passive forms show something being done to it.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look at the phrase after the second comma. Which word introduces it, and which noun comes before the blank?
- Hint 2
Check what cause needs after a noun. Then ask who does the movement described by the words after the blank.
Step-by-step
Find the verb pattern, then check who moves
Step 1Find the main verb
the door slammed shut already has a subject, the door, and a main verb, slammed, which says what the door did. Is a main verb still missing? No: causing the papers begins an added phrase about the result of the slam. The blank needs a form that fits inside that added phrase.
- Step 2
Follow the pattern after cause
What does causing the papers on the desk need next? The verb cause takes a noun followed by a to form to say what the noun does or what happens to it. Here, papers is that noun, while on the desk only says where the papers were. The blank needs a to form after papers.
- Step 3
Show what the papers do
Who is doing the movement across the room? The papers are the things that flutter, even though the door’s slam makes them move. The active form, to flutter, says what the papers do; to be fluttered would treat the verb as something done to them. Choice D.