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Question

Difficulty: EasyVerb Tense and Consistency

The paragraph below describes the California Gold Rush. What form of the verb 'encounter' correctly completes the sentence to maintain logical tense consistency throughout the passage?

Answer:During the California Gold Rush of 1849, thousands of prospectors traveled west with dreams of striking it rich. While a few individuals actually found gold, most of the miners 【encountered】 only hardship and disappointment.

Answer

encountered
The correct verb form is 'encountered'. The passage describes events during the California Gold Rush of 1849, establishing a past-tense timeframe. Surrounding verbs such as 'traveled' and 'found' are in the simple past tense, so the verb in the blank must also be in the simple past tense to maintain grammatical consistency.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the tense of the surrounding verbs in the passage.
The verbs 'traveled' and 'found' are in the simple past tense.
Verb tense must remain consistent throughout a sentence or paragraph unless there is a logical reason to shift time frames.
2
Conjugate the verb 'encounter' to match the established past tense.
The past tense of 'encounter' is 'encountered'.
Since the passage describes historical events that occurred in the past (1849) and uses past tense verbs, the blank must also be filled with a past tense verb.

Key Concept

Verb Tense and Consistency
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Topics

Verb Tense and Consistency

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