Either Mark or his students _______ on the ferry boat.
13. If you want to use the present tense, which word would best fill the blank?
A. were
B. are
C. was
D. is
B is the only present tense?
Right. B is the answer.
The word 'is' is in the present tense as well, but in this case, you are correct -- it is B/'are.'
To determine the correct answer, let's analyze the sentence and the options provided.
The sentence states that "Either Mark or his students _______ on the ferry boat." This sentence is referring to the present tense.
Now let's evaluate the options:
A. "were" - This is past tense, so it does not match the requirement of the present tense.
B. "are" - This is the present tense, which matches the requirement of the sentence.
C. "was" - This is past tense as well, so it does not match the requirement of the present tense.
D. "is" - This is also the present tense, but it refers to a singular noun, whereas the sentence refers to either Mark or his students, which is plural.
Based on the analysis, option B, "are," is the best choice to fill the blank because it agrees with the requirement of the present tense and matches the subject of the sentence. Therefore, the correct answer is B.