ShmoopTube

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Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by helping verbs. They're so eager to please

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they'll even help you move.

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What should replace the underlined word below?

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I had gave up my spot in line before I even reached the front of the store.

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The helping verb "had" is the most helpful word in this sentence. Guess it's just in

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its nature.

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Because "had" is in the mix, we know that we're looking for a past participle, so anything

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that's...you know...not a participle can go by the wayside.

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Therefore we can nix (A), because "gave" is just past tense, not a past participle.

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Choice (C) is way off the mark, since "give" is present tense and doesn't have anything

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to do with the past at all.

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(D) probably gets the award for being the most wrong, since "gives" is plural on top

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of being present tense.

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Choice (B) is the correct answer because "given" is the past participle.

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It may have only been a participle in the past, but we're hoping it can become a "fullciple"

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in the future.

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