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By the time Maria finished her report, she _______ working on the computer for over three hours.
  • a)
    be
  • b)
    has
  • c)
    had been
  • d)
    have been
Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer?
Verified Answer
By the time Maria finished her report, she _______ working on the comp...

To determine the correct answer choice, let's analyze the sentence:
"By the time Maria finished her report, she _______ working on the computer for over three hours."
- The sentence is in the past tense, indicating that the action of working on the computer occurred before Maria finished her report.
- The phrase "by the time" suggests that the action of working on the computer was already completed before Maria finished her report.
Given this information, we can eliminate answer choices A and B ("be" and "has") as they do not indicate a completed action in the past.
Now, let's compare answer choices C and D:
C: "had been"
D: "have been"
- Answer choice D ("have been") is in the present perfect tense, which denotes an ongoing action that started in the past and is still continuing. This is not suitable for the context of the sentence, where the action of working on the computer is already completed.
- On the other hand, answer choice C ("had been") is in the past perfect tense, which expresses an action that was completed before another past action. This aligns with the given sentence, as the action of working on the computer was completed before Maria finished her report.
Therefore, the correct answer is C: "had been."
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By the time Maria finished her report, she _______ working on the computer for over three hours.a)beb)hasc)had beend)have beenCorrect answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer?
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