Question

Select suitable option which conveys same meaning as the given sentence:
The shops were very crowded.
a) There were a lot of people in the shops.
b) There are a lot of people in the shops.
c) There will be lot of people in the shops.
d) There have been lot of people in the shops.

Answer 1

Hint: A sentence is a string of words satisfying the grammatical rules of a language. For example - he always spoke in grammatical sentences.

Complete answer:
In the given question, we have to find out which of the options includes a sentence in the past tense, as the given sentence in question contains ‘were’ which is in the past tense and indicates that the shops had a lot of people in it them in the past.
Let us thus analyze the options given to us in this question -
Option (a.), 'There were a lot of people in the shops', refers to ‘were’, which is in the past tense. Therefore, option (a.) is correct as it is in the same tense as the given sentence (past tense).
Option (b.), ‘There are a lot of people in the shops', refers to ‘are’, which is in the present tense. Therefore, option (b.) is incorrect as the answer should be in the past tense since using any other tense would change the meaning of the sentence in question, which is also in the past tense.
Option (c.), ‘There will be a lot of people in the shops', refers to ‘will be’ which is in the future tense. Therefore, option (c.) is incorrect as the answer should be in the past tense since using any other tense would change the meaning of the sentence in question, which is also in the past tense.
Option (d.), ‘There have been lot of people in the shops', refers to ‘have been’ which is in the present tense. Therefore, option (d.) is incorrect as the answer should be in past tense since using any other tense would change the meaning of the sentence in question, which is also in the past tense.

Note:
In this question, it will be helpful for the student to recall the concept of tense. Tense is a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time. There are three tenses - past, present, and future.