Take a look at the sentence again:
Ms. Ayer __________ several deep breaths to keep from exploding at Jerry,
whose excuse for missing yet another class was that Grandma had died—for
the fifth time in one semester!
The sentence requires the past tense of take, an irregular verb. Took is the simple past form.
| Verb | Simple Present | Simple Past | Past Participle |
| take | take(s) | took | taken |
Taked, the form you chose, is a spelling error. Before you continue, review the rules for irregular verbs.
Go back to the sentence to try again.