Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option.

Oh, what a pretty dress! But you ______ such an expensive gift.

Question

Question

This question was previously asked in

BHEL Engineer Trainee Mechanical 2019 Paper

Answer 1

The correct answer is option 4 i.e. needn't have bought.

It is clear that the dress was bought in the past.
We can cancel option 1 as it is in the present tense.
Options 2 and 3 are cancelled as they are grammatically incorrect.
The only suitable option is 'needn't have bought'.
- When we say that someone needn't have done something, it means that they did it, but it was not necessary.
- Eg: You needn't have washed the dishes. I would've done it after my meal.

Additional Information

The negative need not is often shortened to needn’t in conversations and informal writing.