Question

Read the introduction to Maria’s personal narrative, “Teaching Saturday School.” On Saturday mornings, I __________ Arabic to the children who attend my mosque. I wake up at eight o’clock and prepare my lesson as I eat breakfast. It’s hard work, but the look on my students’ faces when they __________ a new word is priceless. Fill in the blanks in order. taught . . . . understands taught . . . . understand teach . . . . understand teach . . . . understood

Answer 1

teach . . . . understand

Answer 2

The correct answer is the "teach, understand" pair. This question is testing your knowledge of present tense vs. past tense. To find the correct answer, you must read the paragraph as a whole and maintain verb tense consistency. Since the second verb in the first sentence (attend) is in present tense, and the first and third verbs in the third sentence (It's and is) are both in present tense, you can safely assume that the remaining verbs will also be in present tense.