Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option:
Yesterday at this time, it ________.
A. Had snowed
B. Snows
C. Snowed
D. Was snowing
E. Had been snowing

Answer 1

Hint: Tense is a category in grammar that expresses time reference. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of unique forms of verbs, especially in their conjugation patterns.

Complete answer:
 There are three tenses in which we can use the verbs: past, present , and future. The past explains things which have already happened for example, yesterday, last week). To explain events that are taking place at the moment, or continuous events, the use of present tense is seen. The future tense defines things that are yet to happen for example, tomorrow, later, next year.

Now, let us look at the answer for the given question.
Option D is the right answer since it is a continuous tense in the past, as the "past continuous tense" also known as the "past progressive tense" refers to a continuous action or condition that has happened in the past at some point, so it is correct.

Option A is wrong since it is perfect in the past, which suggests that it ended in the past with regard to the past.

Option B is incorrect since 'snows' is the present form of 'snow' in the third person.

Option C is wrong as it expresses a simple past whereas the sentence is not.

Option E is incorrect because 'had been snowing' suggests that in the present it is still snowing, which is incorrect because the past is being spoken about.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘D’

Note: Before answering the question, you should always find the tense in which the sentence is given. After knowing the tense, it becomes easy to find the answer.