Question

Choose the correct past perfect or past perfect continuous form of verb from the given options.
There were no shops in village. They all _ _ _ _ _ _ _ down.
a) Did close
b) Were closing
c) Have closed
d) Had closed

Answer 1

Hint: The sentence will use past perfect tense as the action of closing the shops had already taken place before it was known that there were no shops in the village.

Complete answer:
As mentioned above now it is clear that the sentence will use the past perfect form of verb so, let us look at the four options given to us and choose the correct answer.
Option a ‘did close’ is appropriate to be used in the simple past tense in order to emphasize the verb in the sentence. As mentioned above, for the given sentence past perfect verb is required. Thus, option ‘a’ is incorrect.
Option b ‘were closing’ is appropriate for a sentence in past continuous tense as the action is continuing in the past in this case (‘were’ is used in the past tense and verb + ing for continuous tense). We need past perfect tense. Thus, option ‘b’ is incorrect too.
Option c ‘have closed’ is used to represent a sentence that is in present perfect tense for an action that has been completed in the present. We require past perfect tense not present perfect. Thus, option C is incorrect.
Option d ‘had closed’ is used in a sentence which is past perfect tense to show an action that was completed in the past before the other action in the present. Hence, option d is the correct answer.
Thus, the complete sentence will be “There were no shops in the village. They all had closed down.”

Note:
Do not confuse ‘present perfect’ with ‘past perfect’. The former is used when an action is completed in the present while the latter is used when action had been completed in the past.