Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option.
He heard on the morning news that a family of six _______ in an explosion.
A. Were being injured
B. Had injured
C. Have injured
D. Had been injured

Answer 1

Hint: The statement contains ‘heard’ which is the past tense of hear, therefore the statement is in past tense. While the explosion was happening, a family was injured. So it is a continuous tense. Choose the option accordingly.

Complete answer:
In the news it was said that while the explosion happened, a family of six was injured. Therefore, we must use a past perfect continuous because while the explosion was happening, the family was injured. The statement contains ‘heard’ which is the past tense of hear, therefore the statement is in past tense.

Option A: ‘were being injured’, this statement is suggestive of a past continuous action, but we already know that the statement is expressed in past perfect continuous. Hence, this is incorrect.

Option B: ‘had injured’, this statement is suggestive of a past perfect tense, but we already know that the statement is expressed in past perfect continuous. Hence, this is incorrect.

Option C: ‘have injured’, this statement is suggestive of a present perfect tense, but we already know that the statement is expressed in past perfect continuous. Hence, this is incorrect.

Option D: ‘had been injured’, this statement is in past perfect continuous, because the form of a past perfect continuous is ‘Subject + had + been + Past Participle’, which matches with the given option. Hence, this is the correct answer.

Thus the correct answer is ‘D’.

Note: To solve such questions, it is essential for us to know the concept of subject- verb agreement and the tense of the sentence. To find out if the given sentence is in perfect tense or not, we have to see if the sentence contains past participle in it. If it does, then it is a perfect sentence and to know if the sentence is in present, past or future tense, check the ‘be’ form of the sentence.