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Difficulty: MediumVerb Tense and Consistency

Launched in 1977 to study the outer solar system, the Voyager 1 spacecraft provided humanity with its first close-up images of Jupiter and Saturn. As it traveled past these gas giants, the probe revealed active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io and complex structures within Saturn's rings. Decades later, Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause into interstellar space, where it [continues] to transmit valuable data back to Earth.

Which choice best maintains the established verb tense of the passage?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. continuedAnswer
  3. C
    is continuing
  4. D
    will continue

Answer

continued
The correct answer maintains the past tense of the historical narrative. The other verbs in the passage ('provided', 'traveled', 'revealed', and 'crossed') establish a consistent past-tense framework, making 'continued' the appropriate choice.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the verbs in the surrounding sentences to determine the narrative's primary time frame.
The verbs 'provided', 'traveled', 'revealed', and 'crossed' are all in the past tense.
This establishes that the passage is a historical narrative written in the past tense.
2
Evaluate the underlined verb within the context of the sentence and passage.
The underlined verb describes an action that occurred in the same past time frame, so it must also be in the simple past tense.
Maintaining consistent verb tense prevents illogical shifts in time.
3
Identify the option that provides the simple past tense form of the verb.
The verb form 'continued' is the simple past tense.
It maintains complete grammatical consistency with the rest of the text.

Key Concept

Verb Tense Consistency
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Topics

Verb Tense and Consistency

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