From Twitter
1. I have to __ my trip.
2. I spent all night __ presentation.
3. Now I have __ my clothes the meeting.
*prepare
*prepare for
*preparing a
*prepare
*to prepare
The Answers and Explanation
1. prepare for; we prepare for an activity or event.
2. preparing a; we prepare a thing.
3. to prepare; we have to prepare a thing.
Bonus: we prepare to do an activity, but we prepare materials for that act.
The Answers Are: prepares (a), preparing (c), prepared (a)
Explanation:
After ‘always’, a simple tense verb, we can have a past tense or a present tense verb. If we look at the end of the sentence, we see ‘we always have a wonderful time’, meaning this is the present, not the past–so we need a present tense verb after always–so the answer to the first option is ‘prepares’.
After ‘by’ we need a gerund, because by introduces nouns of process or conveyance and actual things; think of how we say ‘go by train’, ‘solve the problem by using calculus’, the cat reached the window by jumping.
After ‘is always’ we need an adjective form or a continuous verb form, because ‘is’, a linking verb, and ‘always’ as an adverb require a description or a habitual action, but the choices offer only one ‘ing’ option and it is needed elsewhere!
