Question

Fill in the blank with the appropriate word-
The painting was being ____ by the artists.
a)Painting
b)Painted
c)Paintly
d)Paint

Answer 1

Hint: We can conclude that the above given statement is in the passive voice, because of the following characteristics:
1)The use of ‘by’.
2)The subject or the performer of the action has been mentioned at the end. Hence, the position of the object and the subject has been interchanged.
3)The use of past perfect continuous tense.

Complete step-by-step answer:

As given in the hint, the tense of the sentence is Past perfect continuous form.
The Past perfect continuous tense is used to indicate an action that began in the past and continued for a specific time in the past itself.
The formation of Past perfect continuous: Was/were + being + Past participle of the verb
We know that we only use the past participle form of the verb in the passive voice, hence in the above given question; We need to use the past participle form of ‘Paint’.
Let’s look at the given options:
a)Painting- It is a continuous form of paint. Hence, it is an incorrect option.
b)Painted- It is the past participle form of paint. Hence, it is the correct option.
c)Paintly- No such word is used in English language. Hence, it is an incorrect option.
d)Paint- It is the present form of paint. Hence, it is an incorrect option.
The correct answer is Option ‘b’.

Note: Keep in mind that the verb of a passive sentence is always mentioned in the past participle form.