Question

Penelope ___________ on her homework when the doorbell rang.
A) Worked
B) Was working
C) Working
D) None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: The tense category expresses the passage of time. The usage of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their conjugation patterns, is usually how tenses are expressed. The past, present, and future are the three primary tenses found in many languages. To choose the correct option, first we should know the correct tense of the sentence.

Complete answer:
In the given question, the sentence is in the past continuous tense. To fill in the blank, keep in mind to maintain the tense of the sentence.
Now let’s look the given option
Option A) Worked: The past simple is primarily used to express completed acts in the past. Worked is the past tense of work. Hence, this option is incorrect.
Option B) Was working: I was working denotes that you were working at one time but are no longer working. That means The past progressive tense is used to describe a past occurrence that is still going on. It's sometimes used to set the stage for a subsequent action.So, in order to keep the sentence in past continuous tense. Working is the correct option.Penelope was working on her homework when the doorbell rang. Hence, this option is correct.
Option C) Working : When we talk about situations that are happening right now, we use the present continuous. Working as a present continuous cannot be used in the sentence. Because Given sentence is in the past continuous tense. Hence, this option is incorrect.
Option D) None of the above: As we already know, Option B. was working is the correct answer. Therefore, this answer cannot be correct.

Therefore, Option ‘B’ i.e, was working is the correct answer since the past continuous tense describes the situation of the sentence. Penelope was working on her homework when the doorbell rang.

Note:
- The simple past refers to an event that occurred previously. It happened, and it came to an end. The past progressive refers to something that happened in the past, but only for a short time. It makes use of was or were + verb-ing, such as eating or playing.
- To demonstrate that one event occurred before another, the past perfect tense is used.
- The past perfect progressive tense is used to indicate that a past event has come to an end.