A verb tense question tests when something happens using forms of the same verb. Find the subject and check that each form agrees with it, then find the time clue in the sentence or the one before it. Ask what event a date or period describes. Match the tense to that time: present for now or habits, simple past for a finished past event, has or have for time reaching now, and will for the future. Every tense needs support from the text.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look at the opening phrase for the dates of Dr. Nguyen's tenure. How do those dates relate to the budget change?
- Hint 2
Decide whether that span is finished or still continuing. What tense describes the budget change within that span?
Step-by-step
Follow the time clue
Step 1Check what the verb forms change
The subject of the missing verb is Dr. Nguyen, one person, and each offered form can go with that singular subject. What changes among the forms? They place the budget change at different times, so time decides this question. Let's look for words in the passage that tell us when she changed the budget.
- Step 2
Find when the change happened
When did the budget change happen? During her tenure as director from 2005 to 2012 places it within the years Dr. Nguyen served as director. The year 2012 closes that span, so we're dealing with a finished past period. Because the opening phrase says when the budget change happened, it tells us which tense the blank needs.
- Step 3
Use the tense for a finished past event
An event within a finished past period takes the simple past, the plain past form of a verb. Which choice gives that form? The form increased is the simple past of increase, so it reports the change within the period from 2005 to 2012. Choice B.