Occupying a significant part of modern-day Nigeria, the Kingdom of Benin was one of the major powers in West Africa...

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

Sentence Structure

Sentence 1:

• Occupying a significant part of modern-day Nigeria,
• the Kingdom of Benin
  • was one of the major powers in West Africa
    • between the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Sentence 2:

• It [?] ruled by Oba Ewuare I
  • from 1440 to 1473.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence tells us about the Kingdom of Benin:

• It occupied a significant part of what is now Nigeria.
• It WAS one of the major powers in West Africa.
• This was during a specific time period:
  • the 13th through 19th centuries (that's the 1200s through the 1800s).

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

• "It ______ ruled by Oba Ewuare I from 1440 to 1473."

Let's look at our choices:

• We're deciding between different verb tenses:
  • is, will be, has been, or was.

What do we know from the sentence?

• The time frame is very specific: "from 1440 to 1473"
• These are dates from the past - over 500 years ago!
• The first sentence already established we're talking about
  • historical events (13th-19th centuries).

What do we notice about the time markers here?

• "From 1440 to 1473" tells us exactly when this happened.
• These specific dates in the distant past signal
  • that this is a completed historical event.
• When something happened at a specific time in the past
  • and is completely finished, we need simple past tense.

So we need was.

The sentence is saying: The Kingdom of Benin was ruled by Oba Ewuare I during that specific period from 1440 to 1473.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Matching Verb Tense to Time Markers

When a sentence includes specific time markers - especially dates or time periods - your verb tense must match that time context:

Pattern 1: Specific past dates → Simple past tense

• The kingdom was ruled by Oba Ewuare I from 1440 to 1473.
• Time marker: "from 1440 to 1473" (specific past dates)
• Verb needed: simple past "was"

Pattern 2: Present/current time markers → Present tense

• The museum is open today from 9 AM to 5 PM.
• Time marker: "today" (present)
• Verb needed: present "is"

Pattern 3: Future time markers → Future tense

• The exhibition will be on display next month.
• Time marker: "next month" (future)
• Verb needed: future "will be"

Application to this question:
The dates "from 1440 to 1473" are clear time markers indicating when something happened in the past. This completed historical event requires simple past tense: "was ruled."