<p>Helga (had been living) on her farm with her husband and nine children in Spokane, Washington, when she read of a $10,000 prize being offered to a woman who was willing to walk around the country.
A. No change
B. had lived</p>
<p>“Had been living” sounds passive to my ear, so I picked B instead. And yeah, the answer is A.</p>
<p>Thanks for whoever offers the help, God bless you!</p>
<p>bump</p>
<p>Its really difficult for me to explain but I will try! “Had lived” is past perfect and “had been living” is past perfect continuous. You have to use the continuous form because “the living” had begun in the past and has continued up until another point in the past. To me, the way the sentence reads with “had lived” just seems so odd. </p>
<p><a href=“Past Perfect Continuous Tense | ENGLISH PAGE”>http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastperfectcontinuous.html</a></p>
<p>“Had been living” resembles a passive construction superficially, but it is not one. “Had been eaten” is passive (someone else is doing the eating) while “had been eating” is active. They look very similar, but the participles are different.</p>
<p>“Had been lived” is the passive equivalent to your sentence. You might say, “John’s life had been lived with energy.” That’s not what your sentence is up to.</p>
<p>This is the type of question that factors into the admissions process? SMH, LOL @Helga </p>
<p>The answer is had been living because it represents a continuous action that was interrupted by when she read about the $10,000 prize. </p>
<p>I assume “was living” was not one of the choices? That would be better.</p>