In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the…
2023
In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and select the correct answer out of the four alternatives for the given blanks.
A mother duck and her little ducklings were on their way to the lake one day. Suddenly the mother duck saw a fox in the distance. She was frightened and shouted, “Children, hurry to the lake. There’s a fox!” The ducklings (1) towards the lake. The mother duck began to walk back and forth (2) one wing on the ground. When the fox saw her, he said to himself, “It seems that she’s hurt and can’t fly! I can easily catch and eat her!” Then he ran towards her. The mother duck ran, leading the fox away from the lake so that he (3) be able to harm her ducklings. The mother duck saw that they had reached the lake. She was (4), so she stopped. The fox thought she was tired and he came closer, but the mother duck quickly spread her wings and (5) up in the air. She landed in the middle of the lake and her ducklings swam to her.
Find the appropriate word in 3rd case.
- A.
won’t
- B.
wouldn’t
- C.
shall not
- D.
May not
Attempted by 2 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept: When the main verbs of a sentence or narrative are in the past tense, any modal auxiliary that refers to the future must also shift to its past-tense form, so the whole sentence stays consistent in tense. This rule applies especially inside a subordinate purpose clause (“so that…”) that reports the outcome of a past action: the modal there must agree with the past frame of the main clause rather than stand as an independent, present-tense statement about the future. Under this rule, “will/won’t” (present-future) backshifts to “would/wouldn’t” (past-relative-future).
Application: The whole passage is narrated in the past tense throughout (ran, saw, shouted, began, ran, saw, stopped, came closer, spread, landed, swam). The clause holding blank (3) — “The mother duck ran, leading the fox away from the lake so that he ___ be able to harm her ducklings” — is a purpose clause reporting, from that same past vantage point, that the fox would not be capable of harming the ducklings as a result of her action. Because the surrounding frame is past, the modal auxiliary must also be in its past-tense negative form, giving: “…so that he wouldn’t be able to harm her ducklings.”
“won’t” is the present/future contraction of “will not”; it is used in direct present-tense narration and clashes with the past-tense frame of this clause.
“shall not” (shan’t) is mainly a first-person form expressing personal intention or a firm promise about the future; it is not idiomatic for a third-person past-tense purpose clause.
“may not” denies permission or states present possibility — a different modal meaning from the past-relative negation of ability/outcome needed here.
“wouldn’t” is the past-tense form of “won’t,” so it alone matches both the tense and the meaning required by this clause.
Result: The correct fill for blank (3) is “wouldn’t,” giving “…so that he wouldn’t be able to harm her ducklings,” consistent with the past-tense narration of the whole passage.