Question

Fill in the blank with suitable options.
______four o' clock in the afternoon, Jill had finished her classes.
A. After
B. By
C. In
D. At

Answer 1

Hint:The sentence has prepositions as options. Prepositions are often used to relate words together to make a perfect sentence or relatable sentence. There are many prepositions to describe the relation of time in the sentence.
One of the options to be chosen here with the correct relation of time with the preposition.

Complete answer:
Option A- after-is an incorrect answer because after means completion of work or action after the mentioned time. This makes the sentence inappropriate and wrong as the work has to be completed before or at the exact time mentioned.

Option B- by-is the correct option because when we use by ,we generally relate to the completion of the work or action on or before the mentioned time which makes the sentence more appropriate and correct. Here, Jill may have completed the work before 4 o' clock or at the exact time.
Some examples to make the explanation understandable-
Sniti reached home by 2pm.
She completed her work by 9 as she had to go home early.

Option C- in-is an incorrect answer because it refers to a long period of time like years, months and doesn’t’ mention the exact period of time. It is also used to describe the presence of objects somewhere.

Option D-at- is an incorrect option. It refers to the exact period of time mentioned. Although, it may be correct, the use of at is limited to the exact period of time mentioned while in the above sentence, the work may be completed on or before the time given. So, it is correct.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘B’.

Note:While answering a question related to time period, one should always choose the most appropriate answer in accordance to the question. Although,more than one option may seem to be correct but the most appropriate and with correct grammatical reason should be chosen.