Question from-1
From 1912 to 1951, Charlotta Bass owned and operated the newspaper The California Eagle. While it was under Bass’s leadership, The Eagle blank one of the US’s most influential Black-owned newspapers.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
will become
became
is becoming
to become
From 1912 to 1951, Charlotta Bass owned and operated the newspaper The California Eagle . While
Medium-difficulty · SAT Reading & Writing · Form, Structure, and Sense — Consistent tone and style. Read the question above, select your answer, and check the full explanation below to understand exactly why the correct choice works.
Answer explanation
Choice B is the best answer. The conventions being tested are the use of verbs to express tense and the use of verb forms within a sentence. In this choice, the past tense verb "became" is consistent with the other past tense verbs ("owned," "operated," and "was") used to indie that, at a period of time in the past, Bass’s leadership resulted in her newspaper becoming one of the most influential Black-owned newspapers in the US. In addition, "became" supplies the main clause with a finite (tensed) verb, which is required to perform the action of the subject (in this case, "The Eagle").
Choice A is incorrect because the future tense verb "will become" isn’t consistent with the other past tense verbs used to discuss Bass and her newspaper. Choice C is incorrect because the present progressive verb "is becoming" isn’t consistent with the other past tense verbs used to discuss Bass and her newspaper. Choice D is incorrect because it results in an ungrammatical sentence. The nonfinite to-infinitive "to become" doesn’t supply the main clause with a finite verb.
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