Sentence Improvement and Past Perfect Tense

The question asks us to improve the bracketed part "(had becoming)" in the sentence: "The realisation came when we noticed that our children (had becoming) too dependent on us." We need to select the option that correctly replaces or confirms the bracketed phrase.

Analyzing the Original Sentence and Bracketed Part

The sentence describes a situation in the past. The verbs "came" and "noticed" are in the simple past tense. The phrase "(had becoming)" refers to the state of the children becoming dependent on their parents, which happened before the past events of realisation and noticing.

Let's examine the phrase "(had becoming)":

• "had" is the auxiliary verb used to form the past perfect tense.
• "becoming" is the present participle form of the verb "become".

The structure for the past perfect tense is had + past participle (V3). Using "had" with the present participle (-ing form) is grammatically incorrect for forming the past perfect tense.

Understanding the Required Tense

The sentence structure "The realisation came when we noticed that..." indicates that the children's dependency was a state or action completed before the moment of realisation and noticing (both past events). This calls for the past perfect tense to show an action completed before another action in the past.

Correcting the Verb Form: 'Become'

The verb is 'become'. Let's look at its principal parts:

• Base form (V1): become
• Simple Past form (V2): became
• Past Participle form (V3): become
• Present Participle form (V-ing): becoming

For the past perfect tense (had + V3), we need the past participle of 'become', which is 'become'.

Evaluating the Options

Let's look at the given options for improving "(had becoming)":

1. had become: This uses the auxiliary "had" followed by the past participle "become". This forms the correct past perfect tense (had + V3). This fits the context as it describes the children's dependency state completed before the past events of realisation and noticing.
2. has became: This uses the auxiliary "has" (for present perfect) followed by the simple past form "became". This combination is grammatically incorrect. The past participle of 'become' is 'become', not 'became'.
3. has become: This uses the auxiliary "has" followed by the past participle "become". This forms the present perfect tense (has + V3). The present perfect is used for actions that started in the past and continue to the present, or past actions with present results, or actions in an unspecified past time. In this sentence, the context is strictly past ("came", "noticed"), so the present perfect is not appropriate here.
4. no improvement: The original phrase "(had becoming)" is grammatically incorrect, so improvement is needed.

Conclusion

Based on the grammatical rules for past perfect tense and the context of the sentence, the correct improvement for "(had becoming)" is "had become".

The improved sentence is: "The realisation came when we noticed that our children had become too dependent on us."

Revision Table: Tenses and Verb Forms

Additional Information: Using 'Become' Correctly

The verb 'become' is an irregular verb. It means to start to be something or to change into something. Its principal parts are 'become', 'became', 'become'. It's important to remember that the simple past is 'became', but the past participle (used with 'have', 'has', or 'had') is 'become'.

Examples:

• Simple Past: She became a doctor last year.
• Present Perfect: They have become very successful.
• Past Perfect: By the time I arrived, he had become tired.

Understanding irregular verbs like 'become' is crucial for using tenses correctly in English grammar and improving sentence structure.