From 1912 to 1951, Charlotta Bass owned and operated the newspaper The California Eagle. While it was under Bass's leadership,...

Sentence Structure

• From 1912 to 1951,
• Charlotta Bass owned and operated the newspaper The California Eagle.
• While it was under Bass's leadership,
• The Eagle (?) [became/will become/is becoming/to become] one of the US's most influential Black-owned newspapers.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start with the first sentence:

• 'From 1912 to 1951, Charlotta Bass owned and operated the newspaper The California Eagle.'
  • This tells us about a specific time period in the past - nearly 40 years
  • During this time, Bass owned and ran this newspaper
  • Notice the verbs are in past tense: 'owned' and 'operated'

Now the second sentence begins:

• 'While it was under Bass's leadership...'
  • 'it' refers to The Eagle newspaper
  • 'was under Bass's leadership' is also past tense
  • This refers back to that 1912-1951 period

Now here's where we need to fill in the blank:

• 'The Eagle ______ one of the US's most influential Black-owned newspapers.'

Let's look at our choices:

• We're deciding between different verb forms and tenses
  • "will become" (future)
  • "became" (past)
  • "is becoming" (present continuous)
  • "to become" (infinitive)

What do we notice about the time context?

• Everything in this passage points to the past:
  • The specific dates: 1912 to 1951
  • The verbs already used: 'owned,' 'operated,' 'was'
  • We're describing historical events that already happened

So we need a past tense verb: became

This makes sense because we're describing what happened during that historical period - during Bass's leadership from 1912 to 1951, The Eagle became one of the most influential Black-owned newspapers in the US.

Grammar Concept Applied

Matching Verb Tense to Time Context

When you're writing about events, you need to match your verb tense to the time period you're discussing. Time markers and other verbs in the passage show you what tense to use:

Past time context → past tense verbs:

• Time marker: "From 1912 to 1951" (specific past dates)
• Other verbs: "owned," "operated," "was" (all past tense)
• Verb needed: "became" (past tense)
• Result: Consistent description of historical events

How this applies to our question:

• The passage establishes a clear historical context with dates and past tense verbs
• Any verb we add must maintain this consistency
• "Became" is the only choice that matches the past time frame
• This keeps the entire passage coherent and grammatically correct

The principle: When describing what happened during a specific past time period, all your main verbs should be in past tense to maintain consistency and clarity.