Question

Choose the word or phrase that best completes the sentence.
If you borrow something from someone, make sure you give _____.
A. them back to it.
B. back it to them
C. it back to them
D. it to them back

Answer 1

Hint: We have been given a sentence, a phrase of which has been left out. We have to select the appropriate phrase to complete the sentence from the given options.

Complete answer:
Option A) Them back to it- It is an incorrect answer. If we use this phrase to complete the sentence, it will become “If you borrow something from someone, make sure you give them back to it”. Here, “them” stands from whom something is borrowed, and it stands for the thing that is borrowed from them. This statement implies to give “them” back, but what has to be given back is “it” (the thing that is borrowed). Hence this sentence has a wrong meaning to it and it is not the right answer.

Option B) Back it to them- It is an incorrect answer. If we use this phrase to complete the sentence, it will become “If you borrow something from someone, make sure you give back it to them.” This sentence is grammatically incorrect as it uses the wrong sequence of words. Hence, this is an incorrect answer.

Option C) It back to them- It is the correct answer. By using this phrase to complete the sentence, the sentence becomes “If you borrow something from someone, make sure you give it back to them.” This sentence uses the words in the right order, that is, it implies that “it” has to be given back to “them”. Hence this is grammatically correct.

Option D) It to them back- It is an incorrect answer. It features the words in the wrong order and is a grammatically incorrect sentence.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘C’.

Note: To pick out the correct phrase, the order that the words are used in and the meaning that they imply must be understood. A sentence should feature all the verbs, nouns and all the other parts of the sentence in a proper sequence to make it grammatically correct.