English Grammar: Subject Gerunds and Modals

Hello students. Let's solve this sentence completion question together. We need to find the correct pair of words to fill in the blanks about non-starchy vegetables and weight loss.

First, let's look at the first blank. It starts the sentence and is followed by 'non-starchy vegetables and fruits'. This is the subject of the sentence and describes an action.

In English, we typically use the gerund form, which is the 'ing' form, when we want to use an action as the subject of a sentence. For example, 'Eating vegetables is healthy'.

Let's examine the options for the first blank. Option A is 'Having eaten', which suggests a completed past action. Options B and D use 'To be eaten' and 'To eat', which are infinitives. Option C is 'Being eaten'. Option E is 'Eating'.

Option E, 'Eating', is the most natural way to express a general habit or action as a subject here. It means the act of consuming these foods.

Now let's look at the second blank. It follows a list of examples like peaches and apricots and precedes 'weight loss'. We need a verb describing the potential effect of eating these foods.