Choose the most appropriate option to fill in the blank:I _____ the c…

The correct answer is Option (2) → have loved

Present perfect tense with "since":

• The present perfect (have/has + past participle) is used for an action or feeling that began in the past and continues up to now.
• Since + a point of time (since childhood, since 2015) marks the starting point, so it calls for a perfect tense.
• The form depends on the subject and the verb:
  • With the subject "I", the helping verb is have, not has.
  • Love is a state verb, so it is normally used in the simple form, not the continuous.
• Clue word: "since". "Since childhood" gives the starting point of a liking that goes on up to now.
• Complete sentence: I have loved the combination of fruits and ice-creams since childhood.

Why the Other Options are Incorrect?

Option 1: will be loving — Incorrect. This is the future continuous, used for an action in progress at a future time. "Since childhood" points to the past.
Example: This time tomorrow I will be travelling to Delhi.

Option 3: was loving — Incorrect.

• This is the past continuous, used for an action in progress at a past moment. It does not link the past with the present as "since" requires.
• The state verb "love" is not normally used in the continuous form.
  Example: She was reading when the phone rang.

Option 4: has been loving — Incorrect.

• "Has" goes with he, she or it, not with "I".
• The state verb "love" is not normally used in the continuous form.
  Example: He has been waiting for an hour.

Contrast: "since childhood" with the present perfect ("I have loved") links the past with now. The past continuous ("was loving") stays in the past, and the future continuous ("will be loving") looks ahead.