Question

Diwali (a)………(approach)fast. There were only three days left. Kanishka (b)……(go)out to burst crackers. He (c)……..(be) outside for only a few minutes when his mother (d)…… (call)
out from inside. "Kanishka, you (e)…… (not clean) your room. Why (f)……..you (play)?" "But all my friends are here, he protested.

Answer 1

Answer:

a)was approaching

b) went

c) had been

d) called

e) haven't

f)are you playing

Answer 2

Diwali a) was approaching fast. There were only three days left. Kanishka b) went out to burst crackers. He c) had been outside for only a few minutes when his mother d) called out from inside. "Kanishka, you e) have not cleaned your room. Why f) are you playing?" But all my friends are here, he protested.

Tense Used and its explanation:

• The passage is a report, therefore the tenses used in the passage are in the past tense.
• The first blank uses past continuous tense. Because Diwali was in the future of the situation we are reporting about and it was going to come.
• The second blank uses the simple past tense. It was simply reported.
• The third blank uses "had been" to show that "Kanishka" was outside until the moment that her mother called him.
• The fourth blank is filled with simple past tense to show that his mother called him.
• The fifth blank uses a direct quote from the sentence so, the present perfect tense is used.
• In the sixth blank present continuous tense is used as it is also a direct quote from his mother. In direct quotation present tense is used because the moment the speaker spoke was about the present time in the past.