Select the most appropriate form and tense of the bracketed verb in the following sentence to fill in the blank.
I’m busy today. I’d rather we ________ (has) the meeting tomorrow.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The correct answer is option 4 i.e. had.
The sentence is:
'I’m busy today. I’d rather we ________ the meeting tomorrow.'
This uses the expression 'I’d rather (someone) + past tense' to talk about a present or future preference about what someone else should do.
Even though it refers to the future (tomorrow), we use the past tense ('had') after 'I’d rather' when talking about someone else's action.
Let’s eliminate the incorrect options:
had been – Incorrect tense and structure. 'Had been' is past perfect, which is not needed here.
has been – Incorrect subject-verb agreement and tense. 'Has been' is present perfect, and “we” doesn’t match “has.”
has – Again, wrong verb form for the subject 'we.'
had – Correct. Simple past tense used correctly after “I’d rather (we)...” for a future preference.