Question

Excerpt from Norse Mythology Part B Kate McConnaughey (15) Then all the gods wept, the summer breeze wailed, the leaves fell from the sorrowing trees, the flowers faded and died from grief, and the earth stiff and cold. Read the passage. Look at the underlined section marked number (15). There may be a mistake in the way the sentence is written. If you find a mistake, choose the answer that corrects the mistake. If there is no mistake, choose ‘Correct as is.’ A) Correct as is. B) Then all the gods wept, the summer breeze wailed, the leaves fell from the sorrowing trees, the flowers faded and died from grief, and the earth grew stiff and cold. C) Then all the gods wept, the summer breeze wailed, the leaves fell from the sorrowing trees, the flowers faded and died from grief, and the earth was growing stiff and cold. D) Then all the gods wept, the summer breeze wailed, the leaves were falling from the sorrowing trees, the flowers were fading and died from grief, and the earth grew stiff and cold.

Answer 1

The correct answer is letter b.

The excerpt is written in the Simple Past and narrates a series of events that happened in a sequence.

Notice the verbs in the Simple Past : wept, wailed, fell, faded and died.

There is a verb missing  in the part " the earth stiff and cold"  The verb is grow, the Simple Past form is grew, therefore " the earth grew stiff and cold" is the correct way.

Letter A is wrong because there's a verb missing.

Letter C and letter D " the earth was growing stiff and cold" the verb grow is in the Past Continuos, " the leaves were falling from the sorrowing  trees"  the verb fall is also in the Past Continous breaking the pattern stablished.