Question

Correct the underlined part, if necessary-
Have you seen the news on TV last night?
a) Had you seen
b) Did you see
c) Do you see
d) No error

Answer 1

Hint: The underlined part is ‘have you seen'. We have to correct it by replacing it or by adding some other words.

Complete answer:
 In the given question, the underlined part is clearly wrong as we cannot use ‘have' here. We will have to replace it with some other word. We have to choose the most appropriate option from among the four given ones.
Now, let us examine all the given options to find out the correct answer :
Option ‘a’ is Had you seen. It is in the past perfect tense. It states an action that completed in the past before another action took place (in the past). The given sentence has only one action, hence it isn’t relevant.
Option ‘b’ is Did you see. It is the correct option as it is in the simple past tense. It states an action that happened in the past ‘last night’. Hence this verb form is most appropriate.
Option ‘c’ is Do you see. It is an incorrect option as it is in simple present tense and does not state a past action.
Option ‘d’ is No error. The given sentence indicates an action that happened in the past: ‘last night’. So, the sentence will be in the past tense.
Hence, option ‘b’ is the correct option. The complete sentence would be – Did you see the news on TV last night?

Note:
 All the other options are plausible distractions. Pay attention to the tense of the given sentence. Tense is a category that expresses time reference. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their conjugation patterns. The main tenses found in many languages include the past, present, and future.