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Hello everyone, I would like to know the correct answer to this question:

I really regretted my mistakes. It was one that.....................

A. had not to make.
B. ought not to be making.

C. mustn't make.
D. ought not to have made.

I'm saying the answer is B simply because it is probably the correct way to construct a passive sentence. Howeve, the gerund form "making" is making me have second thoughts about this, because I know that the past participle form of the verb is used with the passive constructions instead of gerunds......meaning:
out not to be made.
Please help me out, I'm having a hard time with this.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Welcome to English Forums. Thank you for registering.
I really regretted my mistakes. It was one that ...
The mistakes are made in the past. So you need a clause with a past form of the verb.
It also needs to be passive, or active with the subject "I"
The only answer that qualifies is "D"
But D is not correct grammar. The book does not give you any correct choice.
The correct answer would be this:
D. ought not to have been made.
There is another problem with the question.
The first sentence has "mistakes" in the plural, and the second one has the pronoun "it" which does not correctly refer to the plural.
I really regretted my mistakes. They were ones that ought not to have been made.
I really regretted my mistakes. They were ones that I ought not to have made.
I really regretted my mistakes. They were ones that I shouldn't have made.
Or, if you persist in making the same mistakes, these are possible.
I really regret my mistakes. They are ones that I shouldn't be making.
I really regret my mistakes. They are ones that I ought not to be making.

Purepath · Answer

Thank you very much for replying. Now it makes perfect sense to me. I knew there was something wrong with the question because it didn't sound right to me.
Now I understand that it should be written "ought not to have been made", but would it also be acceptable to write it like this:
out not to be made
?

AlpheccaStars · Answer

purepathout not to be made

ought not to be made.
It is acceptable grammatically, but it does not fit the context as well. It is more general, meaning that nobody should make the mistake.
The better one is the past passive which says that I made the mistake and I shouldn't have made it.

Purepath · Answer

Got it.
Thank you very much

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