Cuneiform script, one of the earliest forms of writing, was developed by the ancient Sumerians around 3400 BCE. The system...

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

• Cuneiform script,
• one of the earliest forms of writing,
• was developed by the ancient Sumerians around 3400 BCE.

• The system
• used wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay tablets
• to represent words and concepts.

• You
• [?] about how cuneiform evolved into a sophisticated writing system
• in the following unit.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's read through and understand what we're being told:

The first sentence introduces us to cuneiform script:

• It's described as 'one of the earliest forms of writing'
• It was developed by the ancient Sumerians around 3400 BCE
• So this is historical information from thousands of years ago

The second sentence gives us more detail:

• 'The system used wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay tablets'
  • This describes how cuneiform physically worked
  • They made wedge shapes in clay to write
• 'to represent words and concepts'
  • This tells us the purpose - communicating ideas

Now we come to the third sentence: 'You _____ about how cuneiform evolved into a sophisticated writing system in the following unit.'

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

• A. have learned
• B. had learned
• C. had been learning
• D. will learn

These are all different tenses of the verb "learn." To see what tense we need, let's read the rest of the sentence and pay attention to the time clues!

The sentence continues: 'in the following unit.'

Now, what do we notice about the timing here?

• 'In the following unit'
  • 'Following' means coming next or after
  • This is telling us WHEN the learning will happen
  • It's pointing to a future time - something that hasn't happened yet but will happen later

• The sentence is telling the student (you) that this learning will take place in an upcoming unit

So we need future tense to match this future time marker. The correct answer is D. will learn - it matches the future time indicated by 'in the following unit.'

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Matching Verb Tense to Time Markers

When a sentence includes words or phrases that indicate a specific time frame, the verb tense must match that time frame. This is essential for creating logical, coherent sentences.

Common time markers and their matching tenses:

• Future time markers → Future tense
  • "in the following unit" → will learn
  • "tomorrow" → will visit
  • "next year" → will graduate

• Past time markers → Past tense
  • "yesterday" → learned
  • "last week" → visited
  • "in 2010" → graduated

• Present time markers → Present tense
  • "currently" → am learning
  • "now" → visit
  • "these days" → study

In this question:

• The time marker is "in the following unit"
• "Following" means coming next or after - clearly indicating future time
• Therefore, we need future tense: "will learn"
• This creates logical sense: You will learn about this topic in an upcoming unit (something that hasn't happened yet but will happen later)

The key is to identify the time marker in the sentence and ensure your verb tense aligns with when the action is taking place!