What's wrong with "C"?

What's the Source and What's the OA?

What is the author trying to say? The debate on Big Bang theory had been going on for several decades. Notice that the sentence should be in past perfect continuous as the debate was going on for decades.

A - "had been" rightly conveys the past perfect continous. Use the Past Perfect Continuous to show that something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past.

B - Simple past
C - have been - indicates present perfect
D - Big Bang theory had been debating (awkward construction)
E - Simple past.

vineetbatra wrote:I have the following question
According to Stephen Hawking, the Big Bang theory had been debated for several decades as it seemed to exclude the role of God in creation..
(A) had been debated for several decades
(B) was debated for several decades
(C) would have been debated for several &cades
(D) had been debating for several decades
(E) was in debaiè for several decades.

The correct answer is A, however I feel it is E

A is correct answer here. It is in passive voice

BB theory had been debated <by X> ..

X had debated BB theory ..for decades
(we need perfect tense.. to represent ongoing action for sever decades in the past"


B --> war debated --> x debated BB theory for decades
-> its not ongoing action

C --> totally in hypothetical situation. Which distorts the original meaning.

D --> past progressive is not required

E --> same as B

Thanks Guys,

But my understanding was that with "Had Been" we always have verb +ing, however it is "debated " and not in the ing form, so it seems incorrect. Any thoughst?

https://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar-r ... Verbs.html

Past Perfect Progressive Form: This tense is most often created by using had been and the present perfect of the verb (most often the verb form ending in -ing).Not Always

HTH