Question

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate option:
Last Monday when I ______ the house it _________ heavily.
a) leave/rain
b) left/was raining
c) left/had rained
d) was leaving/rained
e) leave/rains

Answer 1

Hint: The first part of the sentence contains the phrase ‘Last week’. This indicates that the action was done in the past. The second part of the sentence refers to the weather. This will help you choose the correct verb.

Complete answer:
Verbs are the action words in a sentence that describe what the subject is doing. Along with nouns, verbs are the main part of a sentence or phrase, telling a story about what is taking place.

Look at the given sentence - It starts with ‘last week’, which tells us that this action is most probably completed. The most appropriate tense, in this case, will be the simple past tense. The second part of the sentence is most probably a continuous action as it is describing the weather, and it should match the previous tense, so it will be in the past continuous tense.

Now, we know what we are looking for. Let’s go through the options one by one:

a) leave/rain - The first verb is not in the simple past tense. The second verb is also not in the past continuous tense. These are not the required answers. So, this is an incorrect option.
b) left/ was raining - The first verb is in the simple past tense. The second verb is in the past continuous tense. These are the required answers. So, this is the correct option.
c) left/had rained - The first verb is in the simple past tense. However, the second verb is also not in the past continuous tense. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d) was leaving/rained - The first verb is not in the simple past tense. The second verb is also not in the past continuous tense. These are not the required answers. So, this is an incorrect option.
e) leave/rains - The first verb is not in the simple past tense. The second verb is also not in the past continuous tense. These are not the required answers. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note: Identify the pointers in the given sentence and narrow down the options for the correct tense of verbs. Try to look for specific words that point to a certain tense. Then, choose the correct option, accordingly.