Question

When the Principal entered the class, a student ______ on the blackboard.

• A. Wrote
• B. Was writing
• C. Writes
• D. Is writing

Hint:

Think: was the action already happening when the Principal walked in?

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Look at the two actions in the sentence. The Principal entering the class is a short, completed action.
Step 2: The student writing on the blackboard was already going on when the Principal entered. This is a longer, ongoing action interrupted by the shorter one.
Step 3: For an ongoing action in the past that gets interrupted by a shorter past action, we use the Past Continuous tense: was/were plus verb-ing.
Step 4: The subject is a student, singular, so we use was with writing.
Step 5: The correct sentence is When the Principal entered the class, a student was writing on the blackboard.
Answer: option 2, Was writing.