The cook should have … the pepper and the tomatoes together

Analyze the question The sentence is "The cook should have __ the pepper and the tomatoes together." The structure "should have" is followed by a past participle, so we need the past participle of the verb.

Explain the concept After modal verbs like should, could, would, must plus have, we always use the past participle (e.g., should have eaten, could have gone).

The verb grind is irregular:

• Present: grind
• Past: ground
• Past participle: ground

Check each option

• A. ground: correct past participle of "grind" (should have ground).
• B. grind: base form, wrong after "should have".
• C. grinds: third-person singular present, wrong.
• D. grounded: this is the past tense of "ground" (meaning to base something or punish a child by restricting them), not the right verb for crushing pepper and tomatoes.

Answer The correct sentence is: *The cook should have ground the pepper and the tomatoes together.

Exam tip Memorize common irregular verbs in groups: grind-ground-ground, find-found-found, bind-bound-bound, wind-wound-wound. Whenever you see "have/has/had" or "should have", pick the past participle form.