Which word group best completes the sentence without introducing an inappropriate shift in tense?

As the adults cleaned up,
A. the children played with their toys.
B. the children are playing with their toys.
C. the children play with their toys.
D. the children will play with their toys.

A. because it is parallelism. both segments of the sentence are in past tense.

Answered by thatgirlnamedrenae | 2024-06-10

The correct answer is A. the children played with their toys, as it uses the past simple tense that appropriately aligns with the past continuous tense of the first part of the sentence.
The word group that best completes the sentence without introducing an inappropriate shift in tense is A. the children played with their toys. This is because the first part of the sentence, 'As the adults cleaned up,' is in past continuous tense, and option A uses the past simple tense, 'played', which is appropriate for actions that were happening simultaneously in the past. Options B, C, and D introduce shifts to present continuous, present simple, and future simple tenses, respectively, which do not align with the tense of the first part of the sentence.
It is crucial to maintain a consistent tense throughout a sentence to ensure clarity and coherence. When discussing actions that occur at the same time in the past, it's appropriate to use the past continuous tense for the ongoing action and past simple tense for the other action.

Answered by Qwlizard | 2024-06-24

The correct option to complete the sentence without shifting tenses is A, 'the children played with their toys.' This is because it correctly uses the past simple tense, matching the past action of the adults cleaning up. Other options introduce inappropriate tense shifts and therefore do not fit properly.
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Answered by Qwlizard | 2024-11-21