Choose the sentences in which the modals are used correctly:
(A) Last Sunday the water tanker did not come, so we must carry buckets from the village hand pump.
(B) Raghav said that he would fix my cycle chain by the evening.
(C) My grandmother used to grind spices on a stone slab before she bought a mixer.
(D) We ought check the tyre pressure before the long drive to Shimla.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → (B) and (C) only
(A) Last Sunday the water tanker did not come, so we must carry buckets from the village hand pump. — Incorrect.
- The given sentence says “Last Sunday ... we must carry”.
- “Must” has no past form.
- For a necessity in the past, we use had to.
- Correct form: Last Sunday the water tanker did not come, so we had to carry buckets from the village hand pump.
(B) Raghav said that he would fix my cycle chain by the evening. — Correct.
- After a past reporting verb like “said”, “will” changes to “would”.
(C) My grandmother used to grind spices on a stone slab before she bought a mixer. — Correct.
- “Used to” + base verb (the simple form of the verb, like go, eat) shows a past habit that has stopped.
(D) We ought check the tyre pressure before the long drive to Shimla. — Incorrect.
- The given sentence says “ought check”.
- “Ought” is always followed by “to”.
- Correct form: We ought to check the tyre pressure before the long drive to Shimla.