Question

It was (1) ____ (gaze) at its own reflection in the mirror. I (2) ____ (go) for grandfather but by the time we (3) _____ (return) to the room, the python (4) ____ (move) on. He was seen in the garden and once the cook saw him (5) _______ (crawl) up the ladder to the roof. Then we (6) _______ (find) him on the dressing table again (7) _____ (admire) himself in the mirror. "He's trying to look better for Aunt Mabel," I said. I (8) _______ (regret) this remark immediately because grandmother overheard and held up my pocket money for the rest of the week!

Answer 1

Hint: We use tenses to specify the time of an event or action. There are three main types of tenses- Present tense, past tense, and future tense.

Complete step-by-step answer:

 The above-given paragraph has been taken from Ruskin Bond’s short story- Snake Trouble.
 As given in the hint, we will be using the different forms of tenses to complete the paragraph:
1)We will use the past continuous tense to denote an action that was happening at a specific time in the past. Hence, the correct answer will be ‘gazing’.
2)We will use the simple past tense to express an action that began and ended in the past itself. Hence, the correct answer will be ‘went’.
3)Here also, we will use the simple past tense to indicate an action that finished in the past. Hence, the correct answer will be ‘returned’.
4)We will use the past perfect tense to express an action that took place before the other actions in the same sentence. Hence, the correct answer will be ‘had moved on’.
5)Here, we will use the continuous form of the tense to express an action that was happening at a specific time in the past. Hence, the correct answer will be ‘crawling’.
6)We will use the simple past tense to indicate an action that began and ended in the past itself. Hence, the correct answer will be ‘found’.
7)We will use the continuous form of the tense to denote an action that was happening at a given time in the past. Hence, the correct answer will be ‘admiring’.
8)We will use the simple past tense to indicate an action that ended in the past itself. Hence, the correct answer will be ‘regretted’.

Note: The form of the tense depends upon the time period of the action that is performed in the sentence.