Choose from the options lettered A - E the one that most appropriately completes each sentence Ifeanyi, the…

Analyze the question

The sentence is: "Ifeanyi, the captain, boasted that our team, though inexperienced, would thrash our opponents and truly __ we."

The blank must be filled with a verb that links back to "thrash our opponents", so it works as a substitute verb (a pro-verb), and it must agree in tense with the rest of the sentence.

Concept

1. Tense agreement: The main verb "boasted" is in the past tense, and "would thrash" is the past form of "will thrash". So the verb that fills the blank must also be in the past tense.
2. Pro-verb "do": The auxiliary "do" can stand in for a verb already used, so we avoid repeating it. For example: "He ran faster than I did" (did = ran).
3. Pronoun "we": The use of "we" (rather than "us") signals that the clause is elliptical: "...and truly [thrash them] did we." This is an inverted structure, "did we", meaning "we did thrash them". Inversion after "truly" is an emphatic, literary way of writing.

Solution

Expanding the sentence fully: "...would thrash our opponents and truly did we [thrash them]."

• A. did: past tense, matches "boasted" and "would thrash". ✔
• B. do: present tense, so it clashes with the past tense of the sentence. ✘
• C. has: it does not agree with "we", and it needs a past participle after it. ✘
• D. have: it would need a past participle ("have thrashed"), and it is in the present tense. ✘
• E. should: it would need a bare verb after it and changes the meaning to obligation. ✘

Correct answer: A (did)

Tip: When a blank is followed by a pronoun and the sentence is in the past tense, look for a substitute verb ("did") that avoids repeating the earlier verb. Always check the tense of the main verb first, since it eliminates options quickly.