Fill in the Blanks
🔒 Log in to trackVerb-form and tense blanks
🔒 Log in to trackWhen the blank is a verb, two checks decide: the anchor (time information in the sentence) and the form demanded by the governing word.
Anchors → tenses:
- By the time X arrived, ... → the earlier event is past perfect: had burnt.
- since 2015 / for ten years (continuing) → present perfect (continuous).
- yesterday / last week → simple past.
- by next March → future perfect: will have completed.
Governing words → forms (the highest-yield list):
- look forward to + -ing (to = preposition): I look forward to hearing from you.
- used to + base (past habit) vs be used to + -ing (accustomed): He used to swim; He is used to swimming.
- had better / would rather + base: You had better leave.
- avoid / enjoy / mind / finish / suggest + -ing.
- decide / plan / hope / refuse + to + base.
- preposition + -ing: insisted on paying, afraid of losing.
The preposition-to test settles most -ing vs to-blank confusion: if the word before 'to' is a noun, pronoun or preposition-like verb (look forward, be accustomed, object), the 'to' is prepositional → -ing follows. If 'to' belongs to an infinitive (decide, refuse, hope), the base verb follows.
Passive shapes also appear: after by the time, a completed earlier event can be had been + participle when the subject receives the action (had been evacuated).
Read the anchors first
A verb-form blank is solved by the time anchors around it: since 2019, for a decade, by the time, already, yet, yesterday, before, after, when, if, until. Circle the anchors, then let them pick the form. The wrong options are always well-formed verbs from the wrong row.
The anchor map
- since + point / for + length → perfect territory: has worked, has been working (ongoing emphasis).
- Two past events, one earlier → the earlier one takes had + V3: The train had left before we reached. The before/after/when clause carries the LATER event in simple past.
- by + future time → will have + V3; by + past time → had + V3.
- Hardly/Scarcely had ... when ... / No sooner had ... than ... → the frame is past perfect + simple past, and the correlative pairs are fixed: no sooner→than, hardly/scarcely→when.
- If (type 1) → simple present in the if-clause, will + V1 in the main clause. Had I known ... (inverted type 3) → would have + V3. Will never enters the if-clause.
Non-finite blanks
When the neighbouring word is a fixed verb or preposition, the form is fixed too:
- enjoy, avoid, deny, suggest, mind, finish + V-ing.
- want, decide, agree, refuse, hope + to + V1.
- Every preposition + V-ing (interested in learning).
- Negative infinitive = not to + V1; negative gerund = not + V-ing. He denied taking the file — deny takes the gerund; 'denied to take' is the planted decoy.
Agreement traps dressed as blanks
Each of / every one of / either of / neither of + plural noun → singular verb: Each of the candidates has.... A number of + plural → plural; the number of + plural → singular. Collective nouns take singular when the unit acts (The jury has reached its verdict). The blank may simply be is/has/does — agreement, not tense, decides.
The elimination sweep
- Kill forms that break the anchor (a present form beside yesterday).
- Kill forms that break a fixed frame (will inside an if-clause; to after deny).
- Kill agreement breaks (have after each of).
- Among survivors, prefer the row that matches the sentence's aspect — ongoing (has been working) vs completed (has worked).
Question types you will see
Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.
since / for with perfect forms
The sentence carries since 2019, for a decade, all morning; the options mix simple present, present perfect and past perfect.
Spot the anchor: since/for ties the action to the present.
Ongoing action → has/have been + V-ing; completed count → has/have + V3.
A pure past frame (before moving to..., yesterday) moves the row back to had + V3.
Why it works: since/for are the signature of the perfect rows; the options differ only by row, so the anchor settles it.
He ___ in this office since 2019.
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has been working — since 2019 keeps the action alive in the present, so the present perfect continuous row fits; 'worked' would detach it.
Past-perfect frame + simple past clause
The sentence has Hardly had ... when ..., or two past events with before/when; the blank is the second verb.
The had + V3 event is the earlier one; the blank event is the later one.
The later event takes the SIMPLE PAST in the when/before clause: went, started.
Reject had + V3 for the later event and present forms for both.
Why it works: the past perfect exists to mark the earlier of two past events; using it twice erases the very contrast it exists to draw.
The guests had hardly settled when the lights ___ out.
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went — the hardly-frame is past perfect + simple past: had settled ... went. 'Had gone' would claim both events at the same earlier level.
Conditional frames
The sentence opens with If or the inverted Had I...; options offer will inside the if-clause, or mix would/would have.
Type 1 (real): If + simple present, main clause will + V1 — will never enters the if-clause.
Type 3 (unreal past): Had + subject + V3 ... would have + V3.
Match the two halves — mixing a type-3 if with a type-1 result is the planted fault.
Why it works: each conditional type is a fixed two-row pattern; the options are rows from the wrong type.
Had I known about the schedule change, I ___ accordingly.
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would have planned — the inverted Had I known opens the unreal past; the result is would have + V3, never 'will plan' or plain 'would plan'.
Gerund vs infinitive after fixed verbs
The blank follows deny/enjoy/avoid/suggest (gerund) or want/decide/refuse/warn (infinitive); the options are to + V1, V-ing, and broken hybrids.
Read the word BEFORE the blank.
Gerund group: enjoy, avoid, deny, suggest, mind, finish, every preposition → V-ing.
Infinitive group: want, decide, agree, refuse, hope, warn (warn + object + not to V1) → to + V1.
Why it works: the first verb's fixed group decides the form; no meaning test is needed once the group is known.
He denied ___ the confidential file.
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taking — deny takes the gerund; 'denied to take' is the planted decoy.
Agreement blanks (each of, the number of)
The subject phrase is each of / either of / the number of + a plural noun, and the options are has/have, is/are type pairs.
Find the true head of the subject: each, either, the number — all singular.
Choose the singular verb (has, is, was) whatever plural noun follows.
Contrast: a number of + plural noun → plural verb.
Why it works: the plural noun is camouflage; agreement follows the head word, and the options exist to punish head-hunting laziness.
Each of the shortlisted candidates ___ to bring the originals.
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has — each is the head, singular; 'have' agrees with the nearest noun, the classic trap.
Shortcuts that save time
Check what owns the 'to'. Owned by a preposition-verb or noun → -ing; owned by an infinitive verb → base form. This one test answers the largest tense-form family.
I look forward to ___ from you soon. → hearing
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'Forward to' is prepositional ('look forward to it'), so the -ing form follows: hearing.
Two events with 'by the time' → earlier verb in past perfect, later in simple past. Fit the blank to its rung of the ladder.
Memorise the three mini-lists: -ing verbs (avoid, enjoy, mind, suggest, finish), to-verbs (decide, hope, refuse, plan), base-after (had better, would rather, let, make).
Mistakes to avoid
Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.
Choosing 'to hear' after 'look forward to' because 'to' feels infinitive.
Using present perfect with a finished-time anchor.
Writing 'used to + -ing' for past habits (that shape means 'accustomed').
Ignoring the passive when the sentence's subject receives the action.
Quick revision
Read this the night before the exam.
since/for → perfect; earlier past event → had + V3; later past event in the clause → simple past.
no sooner ... than; hardly/scarcely ... when — past perfect + simple past.
Type 1: present in the if-clause; Had I known → would have + V3.
deny/enjoy/avoid + V-ing; want/decide/refuse + to + V1; preposition + V-ing.
each of / neither of → singular verb; a number of → plural, the number of → singular.
Practice: 12 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 12 questions
Suggested time 7 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.