Question

Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs:
How fast ______ (you/drive) when the accident ______ (happen)?

• A. you were driving; has happened
  
• B. have you driven; happened
  
• C. were you driving; happened
• D. did you drive; has happened
  

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

were you driving; happened

Option C is the correct answer because ‘were’ is the past tense of are, and since the incident happened in the past tense, it is correct to ask what speed was he driving at.

Option D is incorrect because ‘did’ you drive means he drove only for a certain time, which doesn’t signify the speed during the accident, hence the action of driving is correctly described by saying ‘were you driving’.

Option A is incorrect because ‘has happened’ is the present perfect participle that means the accident has happened very recently, which is incorrect because we don’t know when the accident happened.