GATE DA 2025 | Question 2

MCQ · 1 mark · −0.33

We __________ tennis in the lawn when it suddenly started to rain.

Select the most appropriate option to complete the above sentence.

  1. Option A: have been playing
  2. Option B: had been playing (correct)
  3. Option C: would have been playing
  4. Option D: could be playing

Answer

(B)

Explanation

The playing was already in progress when another past event, the rain, interrupted it. An action that continued up to a moment in the past takes the past perfect continuous, had been + verb-ing: “We had been playing tennis in the lawn when it suddenly started to rain.”

  • Have been playing is present perfect continuous; it ties the action to the present and clashes with the past tense “started”.
  • Would have been playing and could be playing express a guess or a possibility, not an action that actually took place.

Answer: B