Tenses Test 8

The given passage is narrating a story, so the actions that have happened are in the past.
Option A: 'Were now lying' is in the past continuous tense. It describes a continuous action that happened in the past. ('now' is an adverb and does not affect the tense)
It agrees to the sentence in tense as well as in meaning: the mama and baby tiger were lying down underneath a tree. Hence option A is correct.
Option B: 'Now lay' is not appropriate here. 'Lay' and 'lie' are two different verbs. The latter is to be used here.
'Lay' is a verb used when it has an object; it means 'to put something down carefully in a flat position', so it must have an object to put down: she lay the book on the table.
'Lie' means to place yourself on a flat surface, as in to rest or sleep.
Hence option B is incorrect.
Option C: 'Had now lain' is in the past perfect tense. It describes an action that completed in the past, before another action took place. But, there is no other action that takes place in relation to 'lying down', hence C is incorrect.
Option D: 'Are now lying' refers to present continuous, whereas the action happened in the past. So, option D is incorrect.

The zero conditional is used for when the time being referred to is now or always and the situation is real and possible. The zero conditional is often used to refer to general truths. The tense in both parts of the sentence is the simple present. In zero conditional sentences with a negative connotation, the word "unless" is used. Hence, Option A is correct. The rest of the options do not adhere to this rule, hence incorrect. 

The type 1 conditional is used to refer to the present or future where the situation is real. The type 1 conditional refers to a possible condition and its probable result. In these sentences the if clause is in the simple present(if Urvashi comes to me), and the main clause is in the simple future(I shall help her). Hence, Option D is correct. The rest of the options do not adhere to this rule, hence incorrect. 

As the sentence is in the past tense and someone else had performed the act of selecting Ajay, option C, had been selected, is the correct answer.

Option B: Blank no. 16 contains a quoted speech "Watch." This is spoken by the mama tiger. The verb in the blank should be a reporting verb, because the passage is directly quoting someone's speech, in the third person point of view.
A reporting verb is generally in the past tense, and this passage is also a narration of something that has happened in the past.
So, 'said' is the right answer.
Hence option B is correct.
Options A and C: 'Says' and 'say' both refer to the present tense, but the events have already happened, and are being narrator by the author of this passage. So options A and C are incorrect.
Option D: 'Had said' refers to the past perfect tense. It is used when one action has completed before another begins. It does not agree to the given situation. Hence D is incorrect.

We use 'in case' to talk about things we should do in order to be prepared for possible future situations, like the pen stopping. The conditional clause takes on the simple present tense for precaution in the present. Hence, Option B is correct. The rest of the options do not adhere to condition, hence they're incorrect. 

The to-infinitive is used in many sentence constructions, often expressing the purpose of something or someone's opinion about something, here reaching in time in order to discuss a matter. The to-infinitive consists of to + root verb, here, to + discuss. Hence, Option A is correct.