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Question

Difficulty: EasyVerb Tense and Consistency

Read the passage below. Fill in the blank with the correct form of the verb 'find' to maintain consistent verb tense throughout the paragraph.

Answer:In 1960, oceanographer Jacques Piccard and Lieutenant Don Walsh descended to the deepest known point of the Earth's oceans. As their bathyscaphe slowly sank into the abyss, they observed the light fading into total darkness. At the bottom, they 【found】 a small flatfish, which disproved the belief that no life could survive in such extreme pressure.

Answer

found
The entire passage is written in the simple past tense to describe a historical event that occurred in 1960. The verbs 'descended', 'sank', 'observed', and 'disproved' establish this past-tense context. To maintain consistency, the verb in the blank must also be in the simple past tense. The simple past tense of 'find' is 'found'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the verbs surrounding the blank to establish the tense of the passage.
The verbs 'descended', 'sank', 'observed', and 'disproved' are all conjugated in the simple past tense.
Establishing the narrative tense of the passage is necessary to maintain consistency.
2
Determine the temporal relationship of the blank to the other actions in the sentence.
The action of discovering the flatfish occurs in the same sequence of past events as descending and observing.
This ensures that no shift in tense is required since all actions happen in the same past timeframe.
3
Conjugate the verb 'find' to match the simple past tense.
The simple past tense of 'find' is 'found'.
Using the simple past form maintains grammatical consistency across the entire passage.

Key Concept

Verb Tense and Consistency
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Verb Tense and Consistency

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