A verb tense question tests when something happens, though the choices may also differ in number. First find the subject: a singular verb fits one thing, and a plural verb fits several. Then find a time clue or nearby verb, and ask what time it sets. Present verbs describe now or habits; plain past forms describe a finished past time; had marks something already done by a later past moment. Each tense needs a reason in the text.
Hints
- Hint 1
Find the subject of the verb in the blank. What does it stand for?
- Hint 2
Look for the time clue in the opening part of the sentence, and ask what it tells you about when the company has three employees.
Step-by-step
Subject first, then time
Step 1Check which forms fit the subject
The word it points back to the small software company, so the blank's subject is one company. Which forms fit one company? employ goes with more than one company in the present, so we can set it aside. The forms that fit describe different times, so a time clue has to decide.
- Step 2
Place the staff size in time
When the small software company launched its first app in 2008 gives us a past moment. Does the sentence describe the staff at that moment or an earlier time? The company has three employees at the launch, so the staff size belongs to the launch date. had employed would put their employment at an earlier past time, and the sentence gives no clue for that shift.
- Step 3
Use the simple past
For that finished past time, use the simple past, the plain past form. employs puts the staffing in the present, while employed puts it in the past and matches launched. Choice D.