IPMAT Indore 2025 · Verbal Ability · Question 12

The error is in the causative construction. When have means “arrange for someone to do something”, the pattern is:

\text{have}+\text{person}+\text{bare infinitive}

So: have my brother feed — no to, no -ing.

Compare the standard examples: I had the mechanic repair the car, She had her assistant book the tickets.

Why the others fail:

Option 2 — giving is a present participle; the causative takes a bare infinitive. (Have someone doing something exists but means keeping them continuously occupied, which is not the sense here.)

Option 3 — had my brother who fed my dog turns it into a relative clause, changing the meaning to possessing a brother.

Option 4 — keeps the incorrect to. This is the trap option: it fixes the wordy “give food to” but leaves the actual grammatical error in place.

Option 1 fixes both the to and the wordiness.

Answer: Option 1 — had my brother feed my dog