Select the most appropriate form of the bracketed verb in the following sentence to fill in the blank.
If only we ________(has) started earlier, we would be there now.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The correct answer is Option 4 i.e., had
Context: The sentence begins with 'If only' and refers to a past unreal situation — something that didn’t happen but is being regretted.
Meaning of the sentence: “If only we had started earlier” means: We didn’t start early, and we regret it.
Grammatical Concept: This is a case of unreal past conditional or past regret, where we use the past perfect tense after “If only”.
Structure: If only + subject + had + past participle
Correction: The verb in brackets is has, but the correct form for past regret is had started (past perfect tense).
Corrected Phrase: had started
Final Sentence: If only we had started earlier, we would be there now.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.