Question

The price of rice, as well as wheat, have been rising this year.
Choose the option that best corrects the underlined words.
(a)NO CHANGE
(b)were
(c)are
(d)has been

Answer 1

Hint: Read the given sentence and try to understand what the sentence is trying to convey. Point out in which tense the sentence is. Now, go through the options and choose the one which helps the sentence to best express itself.

Complete answer: A verb is a content word that denotes an action, occurrence, or state of existence. It is the word class that serves as the predicate of a sentence.
In the given question, we have to find out which of the options includes a verb in the singular present perfect continuous tense (as the price is a singular noun) since this tense expresses an unbroken action continuing at present, started in the recent past (rising of prices).
Let us thus analyze the options given to us in this question -
Option (a.), 'NO CHANGE', refers to ‘have’ which is used for plural nouns.
Therefore, option (a.) is incorrect as we need a singular form. Option (b.), ‘were', refers to ‘were’ which is used for plural nouns.
Therefore, option (b.) is incorrect as it is not in the present perfect continuous tense.
Option (c.), ‘are', refers to ‘are’ which is used for plural nouns.
Therefore, option (c.) is incorrect as it is not in the present perfect continuous tense.
Option (d.), ‘has been', refers to ‘has’ which is used for singular nouns.
Therefore, option (d.) is correct as it is in the present perfect continuous 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.