Complete the following text with right forms of the verbs given in the box.

promise

contain

be

return

finish

agree

want

ask

refuse

compose

  One day the great poet Ferdousi (a)---- by Sultan Mahmood to (b)----- Shahanama in honour of the Sultan. The Sultan (c)---- to pay Ferdousi a gold coin for each verse. Ferdousi (d)---- writing and it (e)---- found (f)sixty thousand verses. Now Sultan (g)---- to pay sixty thousand gold coins. He (h)---- to pay silver coins instead of gold coins. The poet (i)---- to take silver coins and (j)---- to his village.

was asked

compose

agreed

finished

was

to contain

refused

wanted

refused

returned

This exercise primarily tests your understanding of verb tenses, passive voice, and infinitive forms, all crucial for constructing grammatically correct sentences in English. Since the narrative describes events that occurred in the past, the simple past tense is predominantly used for actions completed at a specific time, such as 'agreed', 'finished', 'refused', 'wanted', and 'returned'.

For actions where the subject is receiving the action, the passive voice is employed. This is evident in "Ferdousi (a)____ by Sultan Mahmood", which requires 'was asked' (past form of 'be' + past participle of 'ask'). Similarly, "it (e)____ found" uses 'was' as the auxiliary verb for the passive construction.

Additionally, the infinitive form 'to + base verb' is used in specific grammatical contexts, particularly after certain verbs or prepositions. Examples include "to (b) compose" following the preposition 'to', and "it was found (f) to contain" where 'to contain' expresses the result of what was found.