Choose the most appropriate option to fill in the blank.
A servant comes daily to tend ___ the trees in the garden.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → to
"Tend to":
- Tend to (someone or something) means to look after or take care of it.
- The verb can also be used without a preposition ("tend the garden"), but when a preposition is used, it is to.
- This sentence: the servant comes every day to look after the trees, so he comes "to tend to the trees".
- Complete sentence: A servant comes daily to tend to the trees in the garden.
Example: The nurse tended to the wounded soldiers.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: for — Incorrect. "Tend for" is not used in English; the verb takes "to" or no preposition.
Option 2: with — Incorrect. "Tend with" is not used; "with" would show company or an instrument, not care.
Option 3: on — Incorrect. "Tend on" is not used for looking after something. (The older "attend on" means to serve a person.)