Question

Fill in the blank with an appropriate form of the verb given in the bracket:

The rain started two hours ago. It's still raining now. It _____ (rain) for two hours.

• A. has rained
• B. have been raining
• C. has been raining
• D. rained

Answer 1

The correct option is C has been raining

When we want to talk about an action that is happening now or at this time (and is unfinished), we use the present perfect continuous tense. From the given context we understand that the rain started two hours before and is still continuing, so the present perfect continuous tense is the aptest tense to be used. Hence option C is the correct answer.

Option A is incorrect because it is in the present perfect tense. The present perfect tense is used to describe something that happened in the near past and has a relationship with the present. Since this is not the case in the given context, this option is incorrect.

Option B is incorrect because 'has' is the correct form of the verb to be used with the pronoun 'it' and not 'have'.

Option D is incorrect because it is in the simple past tense and the sentence requires present continuous tense due to the above-mentioned reason.