CBSE Class 10 English Grammar

Fill in the blanks choosing the most appropriate words from the given options.

We (a) ------------------------------ Australia last summer. It was a very memorable experience. One day we (b) ---------------------------- hiking with some local boys. Hiking through the scrub, we (c) ------------------------ lucky to see the Kangaroo. It (e) ------------------------- quietly with only its ears moving. While he focused his camera my brother (f) ----------------------------- me to keep still. Suddenly the animal (g) ----------------------- away.

a) (i) visited (ii) visiting (iii) were visiting (iv) visit

b) (i) go (ii) went (iii) were going (iv) had gone

c) (i) are (ii) have (iii) were (iv) had

d) (i) sat (ii) is sitting (iii) was sitting (iv) had sat

e) (i) motioned (ii) was motioning (iii) motions (iv) had motioned

f) (i) bounds (ii) bounded (iii) was bounded (iv) bounding

Answers

We visited Australia last summer. It was a very memorable experience. One day we went hiking with some local boys. Hiking through the scrub, we were lucky to see the kangaroo. It was sitting quietly with only its ears moving. While he focused his camera, my brother motioned me to keep still. Suddenly the animal bounded away.

Explanation

The paragraph given above is about a trip to Australia. And because it happened last summer, all verbs have to be in the past tense. Here we use two past tense forms to fill in the blanks - simple past and past continuous. There is an important difference between the two.

The simple past tense is used to say that something happened in the past. It is formed with the second form of the verb.

Examples are given below.

• I worked hard yesterday.
• She called in the morning.
• I forgot to take my book.
• Mother scolded me for coming home late.

The past continuous tense is used to talk about things that were going on or happening at a point of time in the past. It is formed by putting was or were before the -ing form of the verb.

Compare:

• I wrote two letters yesterday. (Here we use the simple past tense because we are talking about a completely finished event.)
• I was writing letters at 6 o’clock yesterday evening. (Here we use the past continuous tense to talk about something that was going on at a specific point of time in the past.)
• I watered the plants in the morning. (A completely finished action)
• I was watering the plants at 8 o’clock in the morning. (An action that was going on at a specific point of time in the past)

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