Question

Fill in the blank with the most suitable verb to complete the sentence:
That film made me _______.
a. to cry
b. cry
c. cries
d. cried

Answer 1

Hint:Try to understand the meaning of the sentence. This will help you gauge which verb to use. Look for the noun that points to a certain verb. Then, go through the given options and choose the correct answer accordingly.

Complete answer: We can identify the kind of verb needed when we look
at the sentence. In order to do that, we need to deconstruct the given sentence:
Firstly, the verb cannot be in the past tense, as the sentence uses the word
‘made’. The word ‘made’ is used to refer to the past tense and two verbs cannot be conjugated in the past tense at the same time. This means that the verb should not be conjugated. Now, the options are an infinitive or a bare infinitive. We cannot use a full infinitive as there is a direct object pronoun before the blank. So, we require a bare infinitive.

Now we know what we are looking for from the given answers. Let’s look at the given
options-
a. to cry - This phrase is a full infinitive. This means that this phrase cannot fit into the sentence for the aforementioned reason. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b. cry - This word is a bare infinitive, i.e. it is a non-conjugated verb without the determiner ‘to’. This word fits perfectly into the given sentence. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
c. cries - This verb is in the simple present tense. This word does not match the tense of the given sentence. This does not fit into the given sentence at all. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d. cried - This verb is in the simple past tense. This word does not match the tense of the given sentence for the aforementioned reason. This does not fit into the given sentence at all. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
Therefore, option b is correct.

Note: The infinitive without to is called bare infinitive ('do', 'be'). The infinitive with to is called full infinitive ('to do', 'to be').