Question

Choose the correct alternative of the verb given in bracket.

The baby _____ (laugh) with his mother in the video I watched yesterday.

• A. laughs
• B. was laughing
• C. laughed
• D. had been laughing

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

was laughing

The past continuous tense is used to denote an action going on at some time in the past. It expresses an unfinished action in the past.

In the given sentence, the speaker is describing a past event (clue word being yesterday). We know that it was a continuing action as he is describing what was happening in the video when he watched yesterday. Hence, the past continuous tense is to be used. Its form is past tense of the verb 'be' i.e 'was' (because the subject, boy is singular third person) followed by main verb -'laugh'+ ing. Hence, option B is the correct answer.

Option A is in simple present tense. Option C is in simple past tense. Option D is in past perfect continuous tense. Hence, these options are incorrect.