Fill in the blank with the correct form of the verb given in the bracket:
On holidays, my elder brother spends hours ______ (repair) old radios in his room.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → repairing
Complete sentence: On holidays, my elder brother spends hours repairing old radios in his room. The blank comes right after “spends hours”, which says how my brother uses his time.
| Option | Form and use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) to repair | the to-verb; follows verbs like want or decide, not spend + time | My brother wants to repair the old radio himself. |
| (2) repairing (answer) | the -ing form; spend + time is followed by it (spend hours reading, spend the day cooking) | Dadi spent the whole morning repairing my torn schoolbag. |
| (3) repair | the base form; comes after words like will, can or did not | The mechanic will repair our scooter by Monday. |
| (4) repaired | the simple past (V2) or the past participle (V3); it shows a finished action, so it cannot follow “spends hours” | Papa repaired the leaking tap last night. |