He never talks to me other than ______________ ask for something.

[tianhang]

Tom is not a good talker. He never talks to me other than ______ (ask) for something.
Which form of the given word can be filled in the blank to make sense: asking, asked , being asked or to ask?

 

[emsr2d2]

Welcome to the forum, @tianhang

Please note that I have changed your thread title. Titles must be unique so use the sentence you're asking us to look at.
Before we consider helping you, please tell us where you found that question. If it was in a book, you need to provide the title and author, and if it was on a website, please provide a link.

 

[tianhang]

Welcome to the forum, @tianhang

Please note that I have changed your thread title. Titles must be unique so use the sentence you're asking us to look at.
Before we consider helping you, please tell us where you found that question. If it was in a book, you need to provide the title and author, and if it was on a website, please provide a link.

I came across this sentence in an exam paper. Thanks for your noting.

 

[Tarheel]

I came across this sentence ON an exam paper. Thanks for your nothing.

That confirms my suspicion that it's homework.

 

[emsr2d2]

I came across this sentence in an exam paper. Thanks for your noting comments.

Have you already taken the exam? What did you give as the answer?

 

[Tarheel]

Ask yourself what makes sense.

 

[tianhang]

Have you already taken the exam? What did you give as the answer?

Yes, I have. My answer is asking. And I think being asked also makes sense. But the given answer is asked. The given explanation is that in the context "he is" can be omitted, which makes me confused.

 

[Tarheel]

Tom is not a good talker. He never talks to me other than ______ (ask) for something.
Which form of the given word can be filled in the blank to make sense: asking, asked , being asked or to ask?

I would use "to ask" there. That's what immediately came to me when I saw that sentence, and it's still what makes sense to me.

 

[tianhang]

I would use "to ask" there. That's what immediately came to me when I saw that sentence, and it's still what makes sense to me.

Grammatically, "other than" is a preposition, so I would use "asking", which means when he askes for something, he would talks to me. And if he only talks to me when I ask him for something, that is, he is asked for something by me, I would use "being asked". I don't know which is more natural and more acceptable.

 

[Annabel Lee]

Tom is not a good talker. He never talks to me other than ______ (ask) for something.
Which form of the given word can be filled in the blank to make sense: asking, asked , being asked or to ask?

I'd say that to ask is the only grammatically correct choice in the whole answer set (He never talks to me other than to ask for something); the other three choices are ungrammatical. Asking, asked, and being asked would work in that sentence only if they were preceded by when (He never talks to me other than when asking/asked/being asked for something), in which case to ask would not work (He never talks to me other than when to ask for something).

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, I have. My answer is "asking" no full stop here and I think "being asked" also makes sense no full stop here but the given answer is "asked".

Note my changes above. Don't try to start sentences with "and" or "but".

The given answer is wrong. Of the choices given, only "to ask" creates a grammatical sentence. It's worth noting, though, that most native speakers would say:
He never talks to me other than when he's asking for something.
As you correctly noted, it's not clear who's doing the asking (other than based on the choices given). An equally grammatical sentence would be:
He never talks to me other than when I'm asking him for something.

The given explanation is that in the context "he is" can be omitted, which makes me confused.

That makes no sense at all. It suggests that "He never talks to me other than asked for something" is grammatical but it isn't.

 

[jutfrank]

We do know well enough who is doing the asking. You have to talk in order to ask for something.