Select the correct inverted verb form:
Only after the floodwaters receded _____ the villagers able to assess the full extent of the damage to their homes.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. were
- Step 1: Analyze the restrictive initial adverbial phrase: 'Only after the floodwaters receded' requires subject-auxiliary inversion in the main clause.
- Step 2: The predicate adjective 'able' requires the copular verb 'to be'. For the plural subject 'the villagers' in the past tense, the inverted form is 'were': 'were the villagers able...'.
Answer
were.
Why not the others: 'had' would require a past participle, not the adjective 'able'; 'did' would require a bare base verb (did the villagers be able is ungrammatical); 'would' alters the factual past statement into a hypothetical modal condition.
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