In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which will improve the bracketed part of the sentence. In case no improvement is needed, select 'no improvement'. We (had) a horseshoe-shaped platform made of clay, but it was destroyed by the rains.?

Option 4 : no improvement

The correct answer is No improvement

• In the sentence, the author is talking about the past wherein (s)he is saying that they used to own or possess a horse-shoe shaped clay platform which was later destroyed by the rains.
• Let's look at each option:
  • have: This represents the present tense but the latter part of the sentence indicates the past tense wherein the object was destroyed by the rains. Thus it violates tense agreement or uniformity
  • has: This indicates singular present-tense. Since the subject 'we' is plural and the latter part of the sentence denotes the past tense, this option violates both noun and tense uniformity
  • has had: 'We has had...' is grammatically incorrect as the plural 'we' doesn't agree with the singular connector 'has' 
• 'had': This is a singular past tense connector and thus satisfies the grammatical construction requirement of the sentence.

Thus the correct sentence is: We had a horseshoe-shaped platform made of clay, but it was destroyed by the rains