A verb form question tests whether a blank needs a main verb, which says what its subject does or is. Then set aside the details between commas and find the blank’s subject. Check which verbs belong to that subject, because a nearby verb may belong to another subject. A verb used in the present or past tense can stand as a main verb; -ing, having, and to forms can’t do so alone. Use this difference to check whether the sentence has the verb it needs.
Hints
- Hint 1
The blank comes after Robinson’s name and a description of her. Set aside the description between commas so you can read the words about Robinson without that interruption.
- Hint 2
Check which subject each verb belongs to. Does note say what Robinson did, and does urging describe Robinson or the leaflets?
Step-by-step
Find the verb in Robinson’s clause
Step 1Sort the forms and find the subject
Let’s sort printing, having printed, and to print as forms that can’t be main verbs on their own. Next, that Jo Ann Robinson begins a clause, a group with its own subject and verb, about Robinson. She’s the subject, the person this part is about, while a leader of the Women's Political Council only describes her and can be set aside.
- Step 2
Count verbs in Robinson’s clause
Does Robinson’s clause already have a main verb? The verb note goes with Historical accounts, so it can’t supply Robinson’s verb. Read to the period: urging Black residents to avoid city buses describes the leaflets, and to avoid is also a form that can’t be a main verb on its own. No verb yet says what Robinson did, so the blank must do that.
- Step 3
Supply the missing main verb
Which form can supply that missing main verb? The form printed is a past-tense main verb here, so it says what Robinson did: she printed thousands of leaflets. It works on its own without a helper such as was or has. Choice A.