When he heard the terrible noise he asked me what was _____ on.
- (a)happening
- (b)being
- (c)getting
- (d)going
Correct — D, going. 'Go on' is the phrasal verb English uses for 'happen', and the fixed question is 'What is going on?', so the reported form here is 'he asked me what was going on.'
- (a)happening — It carries the right meaning but leaves the word 'on' stranded at the end, and 'what was happening on' is not English.
- (b)being — 'Be on' says that something is scheduled or showing, as in 'a film is on', and it cannot be used here to mean that something is occurring.
- (c)getting — 'Get on' means to make progress or to board a vehicle, so 'what was getting on' does not ask what is happening.
A phrasal verb works as a single unit, so the particle printed after the blank tells you which verb can fill it.
The word after the blank does all the work. Reading the sentence as 'what was ____ on' narrows the field at once, because only one of the four verbs joins 'on' to mean 'happen'. The reported question also keeps statement order — 'what was going on', with no inversion and no question mark — which is correct as printed.
- 'Go on' has two common senses — to happen, and to continue.
- In a reported question the subject comes before the verb, with no inversion and no question mark.
- 'Get on' means to manage or make progress, as in 'How are you getting on?'
- Picking the verb that means the right thing on its own and forgetting the particle already printed in the sentence.
Asked as a blank-filling item where the particle after the blank fixes the verb.
The football match has to be _____ because of the weather.
- (a) called off
- (b) continued
- (c) put off
- (d) turned off
Answer(a) called off
Same skill — choosing a phrasal verb whose meaning is not the sum of its parts. There 'called off' means cancelled and is the only option that fits a match stopped by weather; here 'going on' means happening and is the only verb that joins the 'on' already printed.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the word that best fills the blank — Nobody could tell us what was ____ on inside the closed hall.
- (a)happening
- (b)going
- (c)getting
- (d)being
Answer(b) going — 'going on' is the phrasal verb meaning 'happening'.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the word that best fills the blank — The meeting ____ on for three hours without a break.
- (a)went
- (b)came
- (c)took
- (d)made
Answer(a) went — 'go on' here carries its other sense, to continue.