Which option completes 'What things had you () until you joined the military?'

Which option completes 'What things had you () until you joined the military?'

• A. Never learned
• B. Never learn
• C. Never learning
• D. Not learned

Answer: (A)

The sentence uses the past perfect to talk about what you had not learned before a past moment (joining the military). After the phrase “had you,” the verb must be in its past participle form. For the verb learn, the past participle is learned (or learnt). Putting it together with a negative adverb, the natural and correct form is: “What things had you never learned until you joined the military?” This clearly expresses that, up to that point in time, those things hadn’t been learned. The other options don’t fit because they use the wrong form after the auxiliary had you: “Never learn” uses the base form, which isn’t correct after had you; “Never learning” uses the -ing form, which isn’t the past participle needed for the past perfect; and “Not learned” is grammatically awkward in this structure, whereas “never learned” is the natural, common way to convey that you hadn’t learned those things before the joining.

The sentence uses the past perfect to talk about what you had not learned before a past moment (joining the military). After the phrase “had you,” the verb must be in its past participle form. For the verb learn, the past participle is learned (or learnt). Putting it together with a negative adverb, the natural and correct form is: “What things had you never learned until you joined the military?” This clearly expresses that, up to that point in time, those things hadn’t been learned.

The other options don’t fit because they use the wrong form after the auxiliary had you: “Never learn” uses the base form, which isn’t correct after had you; “Never learning” uses the -ing form, which isn’t the past participle needed for the past perfect; and “Not learned” is grammatically awkward in this structure, whereas “never learned” is the natural, common way to convey that you hadn’t learned those things before the joining.