Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
The few words he spoke ______ well chosen.
A) Is
B) Was
C) Were
D) Wasn’t

Answer 1

Hint: Tense is a category that expresses a time reference. Verbs come in three tenses and they are past, present and future.

Complete step by step answer:
Option A) Is – is an incorrect answer because the sentence is in past tense so, to fill the blank we need an answer in past tense only. And we use it and are on the basis of singular or plural nouns. If the noun is singular ‘is’ is used. However, the use on the basis of tenses are wrong. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option B) Was – is an incorrect answer because ‘was’ is used for the past tense but ‘was’ is used for the first person singular(I) and third person singular (he, she, it). Thus, the use of ‘was’ is inappropriate. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option C) Were – is the correct answer because ‘were’ is used for the past tense and also, were is used in the second person singular and plural (you, your, yours) and first and third person plural (we, they). This is the most appropriate answer as it follows the rule and conditions. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option D) Wasn’t – is an incorrect answer because ‘wasn’t’ is not. Thus, this option is meaningless if we use it in the sentence. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.

So, the correct answer is “Option C”.

Note:
There is major difference between was and were is that ‘was’ is used in the first person singular (I) and the third person singular (he, she, it) and ‘were’ is used in the second person singular and plural (you, your, yours) and first and third person plural (we, they).
Singular - I was, you were, He was, she was, it was
Plural - We were, you were, they were