They ________ (cycle)all day so their legs were sore in the evening.Correct answer is 'had been cycling'. Can you explain this answer?

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They ________ (cycle) all day so their legs were sore in the evening.

Correct answer is 'had been cycling'. Can you explain this answer?

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Most Upvoted Answer

They ________ (cycle)all day so their legs were sore in the evening.Co...

Explanation:

The correct answer to the given sentence is "had been cycling." This is because the sentence is in the past, and it requires the past perfect continuous tense to indicate an action that started in the past and continued up until a specific point in the past.

1. Past Perfect Continuous Tense:
The past perfect continuous tense is used to describe an ongoing action that started and continued for a specific duration in the past. It is formed by using the auxiliary verb "had been" followed by the present participle form of the main verb (in this case, "cycling").

2. Continuous Action:
In the given sentence, the subject "they" had been engaging in the action of cycling. The use of the past perfect continuous tense suggests that they were cycling continuously for a certain duration in the past.

3. Duration and Result:
The phrase "all day" indicates the duration of their cycling activity, which started at some point in the past and continued until the evening. As a result of their continuous cycling, their legs were sore in the evening.

4. Sore Legs:
The phrase "so their legs were sore in the evening" suggests that the continuous cycling activity throughout the day had caused their legs to become tired and achy by the evening.

5. Correct Answer:
Therefore, the correct answer to the given sentence is "had been cycling" as it accurately reflects the past perfect continuous tense and conveys the idea that they were engaged in continuous cycling throughout the day, resulting in sore legs by the evening.

Answered by Wizius Careers · View profile

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They ________ (cycle)all day so their legs were sore in the evening.Co...

It is a sentence of past perfect continuous tense so the the sentence will be they had been cycling all day so their legs were sore in the evening.

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