Select the most appropriate option to substitute the underlined segment in the given sentence. She has been studying for two o’clock .
- (a)study from two o’clock
- (b)studying since two o’clock
- (c)studying two o’clock
- (d)study for two o’clock
Answer
Why
Correct — B. The trigger is the preposition, not the verb.
Two o'clock is a point in time, and a point in time takes since. For measures a stretch of duration — for two hours, for a week — so it cannot mark the moment a stretch of studying began.
The verb was already right: has been studying is the present perfect continuous, the form that pairs with since. Option (b) is the only one that swaps the preposition and leaves the verb alone.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)study from two o’clock — Study breaks the verb — after has been, the participle studying is compulsory. From two o'clock is also the weaker choice, since the perfect continuous normally takes since.
- (c)studying two o’clock — Dropping the preposition leaves studying two o'clock, which makes the time phrase read like the object of the verb. A point in time needs since to attach it to the clause.
- (d)study for two o’clock — Two faults at once: study cannot follow has been, and for still measures duration, so the point in time two o'clock has nothing to attach to.
Concept
Since marks the starting point. For marks the length. That is the whole distinction, and it holds in every tense.
since Monday, since 2019, since two o'clock, since she arrived — each names the moment the action started.
for two hours, for three years, for a long time — each measures how much time has passed.
Both normally sit with the present perfect or present perfect continuous, because the action began in the past and is still running: she has been studying since two o'clock.
SSC's substitution options often plant two faults in one string, as option (d) does here. Fix the fault the sentence actually has — the preposition — then check that your chosen option has not quietly broken the verb.
Key facts
- since takes a point in time: since two o'clock, since Monday, since 2019.
- for takes a length of time: for two hours, for a fortnight.
- has been + -ing is the present perfect continuous, and the bare verb cannot replace the participle.
Study next
Common traps
- Treating two o'clock as a duration because the number two suggests a quantity
- Choosing an option that repairs the preposition but breaks the verb form
- Reading since only as a cause word, as in since you asked
SSC gives one underlined segment and four near-identical replacements that differ by a single word. The same shift also runs a substitution item at English Q.10 (09 Sep 2024, 09:00), where the segment turns on an adjective rather than a preposition.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.