Pick out the most effective words from the given words to fill in the blank to…
2025
Pick out the most effective words from the given words to fill in the blank to make the sentence meaningfully complete.
You ______ when I ________ the television yesterday at eight p.m.
- A.
were telephoning, watched
- B.
was telephoning, was watching
- C.
had telephoned, was watched
- D.
telephoned, was watching
Attempted by 33 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Correct answer: telephoned, was watching
Filled sentence: You telephoned when I was watching the television yesterday at eight p.m.
Explanation: Use simple past for a short, completed action that interrupts, and past continuous for a longer action that was in progress.
Simple past (telephoned): the short action that happened and completed.
Past continuous (was watching): the ongoing action that was happening when the short action occurred.
Why the other choices are incorrect:
"were telephoning, watched" is wrong because it makes the longer action continuous and the interrupting action simple past, which reverses the usual roles for interruption contexts.
"was telephoning, was watching" is not ideal because both actions are presented as ongoing; the sentence needs a short completed action (simple past) interrupting an ongoing action (past continuous).
"had telephoned, was watched" is incorrect because past perfect is unnecessary here and "was watched" is passive and does not express the intended active action of watching.