Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option.
I _____ to get on the bus when the doors closed and I was left behind.

• A. was going
• B. had gone
• C. would go
• D. was gone

Answer 1

The correct option is A was going

Let’s examine the sentence: “I _____ to get on the bus when the doors closed and I was left behind.” The sentence has two clauses joined by the conjunction ‘and.’ Both the clauses are talking about the event of getting ‘on the bus’: the first clause says that the subject, I, tried to climb on the bus ‘when the doors closed’ while the second clause says that the subject ‘was left behind’ because of the reason stated in the first clause. Hence, both the clauses are linked by the event and its time. Now, the time of the second clause is past as stated by the verb of past tense ‘was.’ So the first clause should also indicate the same time and needs the same helping verb ‘was.’ This rules out Options B and C as answers as they do not have the helping verb, ‘was.’ Option D also cannot be used as helping verb ‘was’ is not used with the past participle of any verb and here it is being used with past participle of ‘go,’ that is ‘gone.’ So, Option A is the correct answer.