Question

The satellite transmitters can only _____ a certain amount of information at a time. 1. transmits 2. transmit 3. transmitted 4. transmitting

Answer 1

 

The correct option is, ‘transmit’. Hence, the sentence will be written as shown below:

The satellite transmitters can only transmit a certain amount of information at a time.

 

Explanation

‘Can’ is a modal verb. There are some other modal verbs such as could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, and would. These verbs are used to express possibility, permission, ability, request, offer, suggestion, wishes, etc. In Simple conjugation only bare infinitive is used with them. For example, ‘She can run fast.’ (modal+ v1).

The formation of conjugations using the modal auxiliaries can be summarized as follows:

I am using only modal ‘can’ for explanation. The same rules apply for other modals as well.

Conjugation             Modal Auxiliary                Verb Form                                         Simple                         can                         bare infinitive (v1)                           Continuous                 can + be                  present participle (v1+ing)                   Perfect                       can + have                past participle (v3)                             Perfect Continuous   can+ have been        present participle (v1+ing)

 

 

Answer 2

The answer is 2) transmit.

According to English grammar rules, when the noun in a sentence is in plural format, the verb must be in singular format. Similarly, when the noun is singular, the verb is plural. Here, the noun satellite transmitters is plural. Hence, the verb is transmit.

The satellite transmitters can only transmit a certain amount of information at a time.