Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option.
It ________ since early morning.

a)rained
b)is raining
c)has been raining
d)none of these

Hint: The phrase ‘since early morning’ denotes continuous action. It has to be used with a verb that denotes a similar situation. They need to match.

Complete answer:

The given sentence ends in the phrase ‘since early morning’. This phrase implies that the action has been happening continuously since the morning and is still happening. So, this means the answer should be in Present Perfect Continuous Tense.

The present perfect continuous tense shows that something started in the past and is continuing in the present time. It is constructed by using the helping verbs has/have + the present participle of a verb + ing.

Now, let’s have a look at our options:

a)rained - This verb is in the simple past tense because it simply ends in the suffix ‘-ed’. So, this option is incorrect.
b)is raining - This verb is in the present continuous tense, since it ends in ‘-ing’ and has no ‘has’ or ‘have’ in its construction. So, it is an incorrect option.
c)has been raining - This verb is in the present perfect continuous tense since it includes the word ‘has’ and the root verb ends in ‘-ing’. So, it is the correct option.
d)none of the above - This option is incorrect as we have found the answer in the given options.

Note: Use the phrase to identify the needed tense and use the elimination method to choose the correct option.