[Grammar] Need a good explanation.

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Mr.yigit

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Problems with the hotel, coupled with this awful weather, .......... our holiday miserable, so we .......... before the scheduled time.
a)have made/have left
b)were making/leave
c)make/left
d)are making/are leaving
e)made/were leaving

The answer is B. But why we did we use Past continous in this situation? And why we didnt use simple past in the second sentence? I think the correct form should be: problems with the hotel coupled with this awful weather, made our holiday miserable, so we left before the scheduled time. What is your opponion?
 
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The problems were ongoing when the decision was made, so the continuous tense is good. Your version works too. The answer in B is wrong.
 
d) would work too.
 
Mr.yigit said:
Problems with the hotel, coupled with this awful weather, .......... our holiday miserable, so we .......... before the scheduled time.
a) have made/have left
b) were making/leave
c) make/left
d) are making/are leaving
e) made/were leaving

The answer is B. But why [STRIKE]we did we use[/STRIKE] is the past continuous used in this situation? And why [STRIKE]we didn't use[/STRIKE] isn't the simple past used in the second sentence? I think the correct form should be: Problems with the hotel, coupled with this awful weather, made our holiday miserable, so we left before the scheduled time. What is your [STRIKE]opponion[/STRIKE] opinion?
Click to expand...

Note my corrections above.

Who said the correct answer is B? It's not. Of those options, D is the only one that works.
 
I'm still waiting for you to tell us where you are finding these questions, Mr.yigit.
 
The use of the word this makes us think that the speaker is still on holiday at the time of speaking, and leaving is in the future. It would be quite unlikely to refer to 'this' awful weather if the person was at home when saying it, unless for some reason it was the same weather system. Your suggestion of using past tenses would work with the instead of this.

Anyway, D is the clearly best answer. B is completely incorrect. Are you sure you're reading the answer key correctly?
 
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I have a Whatsapp group and we discuss these type of questions all the time.The questions are prepared by English teacher. They are not native speakers. We have a academic exam in Turkey which is called YDS. It is like TOEFL. It is a written exam.
 
Mr.yigit said:
I have a Whatsapp group and we discuss these types of questions all the time.The questions are prepared by an English teacher who is not a native speaker. We have a academic exam in Turkey which is called YDS. It is like TOEFL. It is a written exam.
Click to expand...

You can be proficient in English without being a native speaker. However, some people who are English teachers could use some help.
 
d) is the only one that is acceptable in my opinion.
 
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