Five Blanks Where Two Options Are Both Grammatical
Haruka is writing an email to Emma, her Australian exchange partner. Part of the school's guided-writing task is a five-blank email; the instructions say that only one option fits each blank, and that the choice depends on the sentences around it.
'Hi Emma, Last month my class (1) ___ (visited / have visited) a miso factory in Usuki. It (2) ___ (was / has been) my second visit there. Next Friday we (3) ___ (will hold / are holding) a welcome party for your group. It starts at 4:30, so please (4) ___ (come / go) to Room 302 by 4:20. I am looking forward to (5) ___ (meet / meeting) you.'
Haruka's teacher warns the class that in two of the five blanks both options are grammatical, so the meaning of the whole email has to decide. Haruka tends to choose by sound rather than by clue words.
1. Choose for blanks (1) and (2), and explain the clue that decides each one.
Read the worked answer
(1) visited. (2) was.
- Blank 1: 'Last month' names a finished past time. The simple past is required; 'have visited' needs a period that reaches up to now ('in the last year', 'since 2020'). The clue words come before the verb, so read them first.
- Blank 2: 'It' refers to the visit, a completed event, and 'there' points back to that specific trip. 'It has been my second visit' would treat the visit as an experience still relevant now, which clashes with the finished 'last month'.
The reliable order is clue words first, verb second. Choosing by sound is exactly what makes students pick the present perfect: it sounds more advanced, and in these two blanks it is wrong.
2. Blanks (3) and (4) are the two where both options are grammatical. Decide each one and justify the choice from meaning.
Read the worked answer
(3) are holding. (4) come.
- Blank 3: the party has a fixed date and time and is already arranged, so the present continuous presents it as a plan. 'Will hold' is not wrong English, but it suggests a decision made at the moment of speaking. When an exam gives a definite future time plus an arrangement, the arrangement form is the intended answer.
- Blank 4: the deciding factor is where Haruka stands. She will be at the party in Room 302, so she invites Emma toward her own position - come. If Haruka were not going, 'go' would be correct.
The lesson: when grammar cannot separate the options, ask where the speaker is and what is already planned.
3. Explain blank (5) in a way that would stop a student choosing 'to meet' next time.
Read the worked answer
(5) meeting.
The 'to' in 'look forward to' is a preposition, not the infinitive marker. The test is substitution: 'I am looking forward to it' works, so a noun or a gerund must follow, not a base verb.
Keep the pattern with its relatives: look forward to + -ing, be used to + -ing, thank you for + -ing. In each case the word before the verb is a preposition, so the -ing form follows.
The reason 'to meet' is so common is that students meet 'to + verb' first and over-apply it. Naming the word class - preposition, not infinitive marker - is what prevents the error rather than just correcting it once.