Led by Syrian American astronomer Shadia Habbal, the Solar Wind Sherpas are an intrepid team of scientists who travel the...

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

Sentence 1:

• Led by Syrian American astronomer Shadia Habbal,
• the Solar Wind Sherpas
  • are an intrepid team of scientists
    • who travel the globe to study solar winds,
      • the streams of particles emanating from the Sun
        • that are only visible from certain locations
          • during a total solar eclipse.

Sentence 2:

• When such an eclipse is imminent,
• the Sherpas
  • pack up their telescopes
  • and [?] ready.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence introduces us to who the Solar Wind Sherpas are:

• They're a team of scientists led by Shadia Habbal
• They travel around the world to study solar winds
  • which are streams of particles from the Sun
  • that can only be seen from certain places during a total solar eclipse

Now the second sentence tells us what happens when an eclipse is about to occur:

• 'When such an eclipse is imminent'
  • means when one of these eclipses is coming up soon
• 'the Sherpas pack up their telescopes'
  • they gather their equipment

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

• 'and ______ ready'

Let's look at our choices. They're all different forms of the verb "get":

• A. get (present tense)
• B. had gotten (past perfect)
• C. got (past)
• D. were getting (past progressive)

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We have two actions connected by "and":
  • "pack up their telescopes"
  • "[blank] ready"
• These two verbs are working together to describe what the Sherpas do
  • They're parallel actions - both part of the same preparation routine
• The first verb is "pack" (present tense)
  • This makes sense because the sentence is describing what the Sherpas do in general - their habitual behavior whenever an eclipse is imminent
  • It's not about one specific time; it's about what they do every time
• Since "pack" is present tense, the second verb needs to match
  • We need "get" to keep the verbs parallel and consistent

So we need get (Choice A). The sentence describes the Sherpas' regular routine using present tense verbs: they "pack up" and "get" ready.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Parallel Structure with Compound Verbs

When two or more verbs are connected by "and" (or "or") in a sentence, they need to be in the same form to maintain parallel structure. This creates balance and clarity:

Pattern:

• Subject + Verb₁ + and + Verb₂
• Both verbs must match in tense and form

Examples:

1. Correct parallel structure:
   • "The students study hard and pass their exams."
   • Both verbs are simple present tense
2. Incorrect - broken parallel structure:
   • "The students study hard and passed their exams."
   • Mixes present tense with past tense
3. In this question:
   • "the Sherpas pack up their telescopes and get ready"
   • "pack" = simple present
   • "get" = simple present
   • Both verbs describe the habitual actions the Sherpas take when an eclipse is imminent

Additional consideration: The choice of present tense (rather than past) is appropriate here because the sentence describes a general pattern of behavior - what the Sherpas do whenever an eclipse approaches, not what they did at one specific time.