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Question

Difficulty: MediumVerb Tense, Aspect, and Mood

Which form of the verb 'use' correctly completes the sentence to conform to the conventions of Standard English?

Answer:In her 1962 book *Silent Spring*, marine biologist Rachel Carson documented the detrimental effects of synthetic chemical pesticides on the environment. Before Carson published her landmark text, agricultural industries 【had used】 agents like DDT for decades with little regard for the long-term ecological consequences of their actions.

Answer

had used (or had been using)
The sentence establishes a timeline where the agricultural industries used DDT before Carson published her book. Therefore, the past perfect tense ('had used') or past perfect continuous tense ('had been using') is required to accurately represent this sequence.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the temporal relationship between the events in the sentence.
The sentence describes an action (the agricultural industries using DDT) that occurred prior to a specified past event (Carson publishing her book in 1962).
Establishing the sequence of historical events determines which verb tense is grammatically correct.
2
Choose the tense that indicates an action completed before another past action.
The past perfect tense ('had used') or past perfect continuous tense ('had been using') must be used.
The past perfect tense is required to show that one past action occurred before another past action.

Key Concept

Past Perfect Tense
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Verb Tense, Aspect, and Mood

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