Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option:
This is an old photograph of me when I _____.
A)Was having short hair
B) Have short hair
C) Have had
D) Had short hair

Answer 1

Hint: Tenses verb tenses tells us how an action relates to the flow of time. There are three main verb tenses: present, past and future.

Complete answer:
The given sentence is in the past form because the sentence speaks of a photograph that was taken in the past. So, past tense is used here and we need our answer in the past form only.
Option A) Was having short hair – is an incorrect answer because ‘was having short hair’ tells of a non-continuous action. However, the action is not continuous here. 'Having short hair' is more of a state rather than an action that continues. Hence, this is an incorrect answer.
Option B) Have short hair - is an incorrect answer because ‘have short hair’ tells the present action or situation. However, in the sentence it is given ‘old photograph’ that is in the past form. But, we need our answers that should grammatically support the sentence. Hence, this is an incorrect answer.
Option C) Have had – is an incorrect answer because ‘have had’ is used in present perfect when the main verb is ‘have’. Thus, the use of have had will make it grammatically incorrect. Hence, this is an incorrect answer.
Option D) Had short hair – is the correct answer because ‘had short hair’ is in the past form. It describes an action that is already completed or happened. Hence, this is the correct answer.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘D’.

Note:In such sentences it is important to understand the past tense. The past tense speaks about the activities that had already completed or previously done work or task. Thus, we have to make sure that we use the tenses in the correct way and make our sentence grammatically correct.