Question

Use the correct form of the infinitive to complete the sentence:
We heard him _ _ _ _ _thathe was ill.
A. said
B. says
C. say
D. to say

Answer 1

Hint: We know that verb is the word which indicates the action that the subject is doing. These verbs can either be written in their infinitive (base) forms or in their zero (without infinitive) forms.As mentioned earlier, the ‘infinitive’ is the base form of the verb. the ‘to-infinitive’ is formed by adding ‘to’ to the beginning of the verb. Whereas the ‘zero’ infinitive where ‘to’ is not used but the meaning of infinitive is retained as usual.

Complete step by step answer:
1. Here we will check each option one by one so that we can detect the correct option containing the appropriate answer.
2. Before we start to discuss infinitives', let us first understand the usage of the ‘hear’ (verb) in the given sentence in active and passive voices.
3. We know that the ‘zero’ form or the original present form of the verb (without ‘to’) is used in a sentence in the active voice. Whereas in passive voice, we might use the verb with infinitive in some cases.
4. The sentence given to us in the question is in the active voice and hence, we will use the infinitive without the marker 'to'.
5. Although the sentence has the past participle form of the verb (heard), so we have to use the verb in its original form. More specifically, as for once it is already mentioned the past tense, the past form of the verb could not be set.
6. Option A is ruled out because ‘said’ is the past tense of ‘say’. And, we don’t need the past tense here because the main verb already denoted the sentence as it is in past tense.
7. Option B, 'Says' is incorrect because in the third person form of the verb in present tense, the verb 'say' gets an ‘s’ at its end. But in past tense, it is not correct.
8. The Option D, 'to say' is the verb in its original form with the marker 'to' as infinitive which is not appropriate in such syntax of active voice sentence. Hence, option D is also incorrect.
9. Out of these four options, the third option i.e., option C is correct, because the verb is in its original present form (‘say’) and without the marker ‘to’.

Hence the option C is the right answer.

Note:
The principal verb in the question sentence is ‘heard’. It is set in past tense. As we discussed above, why we have chosen such an option which is the present form of a verb but no infinitive ‘to’ being added with the word. Because, the infinitive ‘to’ always signifies the verb in present tense. But the entire incident of the question sentence happened in the past.