A second-generation Japanese American, Wataru Misaka ______ in World War II (1941-45) and won two amateur national basketball championships at...

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

• A second-generation Japanese American,
• Wataru Misaka (?) already [served/was serving/serves/had served]
• in World War II (1941-45)
• and
• won two amateur national basketball championships
• at the University of Utah
• when he joined the New York Knicks for the 1947-48 season,
• becoming the first non-white basketball player
• in the US's top professional league.

Understanding the Meaning

The sentence starts with a description of who Wataru Misaka was:

• 'A second-generation Japanese American'
  • This tells us his background

Then it describes what he did:

• 'Wataru Misaka (?) already [some form of served] in World War II (1941-45)'
  • and
• 'won two amateur national basketball championships at the University of Utah'

This is where we have the blank. Let's look at the choices:

• already served (simple past)
• was already serving (past continuous)
• already serves (simple present)
• had already served (past perfect)

To see what works here, let's read the rest of the sentence and understand what it's telling us!

The sentence continues:

• 'when he joined the New York Knicks for the 1947-48 season'

Now let's understand the timeline this creates:

• WWII happened from 1941-45
  • This was one time period in the past
• He joined the Knicks in the 1947-48 season
  • This was a later time period in the past
• The word 'when' connects these two time frames
  • It's telling us: by the time he joined the Knicks,
  • he had already done those other things (served in WWII and won championships)
• The word 'already' emphasizes this
  • It stresses that these things were completed before the reference point
  • The reference point is when he joined the Knicks

What do we notice about the time relationship here?

• We have two events, both in the past:
  • Earlier event: serving in WWII (1941-45)
  • Later event: joining the Knicks (1947-48)
• When we talk about two past events and want to show one happened BEFORE the other:
  • We use 'had + past participle' for the earlier action
  • We use simple past for the later action
• In this sentence:
  • 'had already served' (earlier) → past perfect
  • 'joined' (later) → simple past

So we need had already served - this clearly shows that the serving was completed before the joining happened.

The correct answer is D. had already served.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Past Perfect to Show Sequence of Past Events

When you're talking about two things that both happened in the past, and you want to make it crystal clear that one happened BEFORE the other, you use the past perfect tense (also called "had + past participle" in grammar terms) for the earlier event:

The Pattern:

• Earlier past action: had + past participle (past perfect)
• Later past action: simple past
• Often connected by words like: when, by the time, before, after, already

Example 1:

• Later event: "She arrived at the theater at 8 PM"
• Earlier event: "The movie had already started"
• Combined: "When she arrived at the theater at 8 PM, the movie had already started."

Example 2:

• Later event: "We went to the restaurant"
• Earlier event: "They had closed for the evening"
• Combined: "By the time we went to the restaurant, they had closed for the evening."

How it applies to our question:

• Earlier event (1941-45): Misaka had already served in WWII and won championships
• Later event (1947-48): he joined the Knicks
• The past perfect "had already served" makes it clear that the military service was completed before he joined the team

This time relationship is crucial to the sentence's meaning - it emphasizes everything he had already accomplished by the time he made history with the Knicks.