Select the most appropriate option that can substitute the underlined words in the given sentence.
Vipul was having a wonderful dream at that moment somebody was knocking on the door.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The correct answer is option 4 i.e. when somebody knocked on the door.
Error Concept: Incorrect use of tense and connector in the sentence.
What is wrong: The phrase “at that moment somebody was knocking on the door” does not correctly indicate the interrupting action during the ongoing past activity.
Grammar Concept: When describing an ongoing action in the past interrupted by another action, we use past continuous for the ongoing action and simple past for the interrupting action, often connected by “when.”
Incorrectness of the concept in context: The original phrase or other options either use the wrong tense or incorrect connectors like “then” or “later,” making the sentence grammatically incorrect.
Correction: Replace the underlined words with “when somebody knocked on the door” to correctly show the simultaneous past action.
Corrected phrase: when somebody knocked on the door
Final sentence: Vipul was having a wonderful dream when somebody knocked on the door.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.