ELPAC Practice

Three movers push the piano up the ramp, and a fourth mover, ______ inside the truck, pulls on a strap tied around it.

Vocabulary and Grammar in Context · ELPAC Grades 9–10 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

Extra practice, not a separate task on the real test: a sentence with one word missing, testing the vocabulary and grammar the passages assume.

Look at the picture, then answer the questions.

Three movers pushing piano up ramp into moving truck while fourth pulls strap from above
Read image description

A moving truck is parked at the curb with a ramp running from its open back down to the sidewalk. Three movers push an upright piano up the ramp. A fourth mover stands at the top of the ramp inside the truck, pulling on a strap tied around the piano. Furniture pads and a folded dolly lean against the rear wheel.

The question

Look at the picture. Then choose the word that best completes the sentence about it.

Three movers push the piano up the ramp, and a fourth mover, ______ inside the truck, pulls on a strap tied around it.

  • stands
  • has stood
  • to stand
  • standingCorrect answer

Why “standing” is correct

This tests a participle phrase set off by commas inside a sentence. The main verb of the second clause is already 'pulls', so the words between the commas can only describe the mover, and an -ing participle does that: 'a fourth mover, standing inside the truck, pulls'. A quick check is to remove the phrase between the commas and confirm the sentence still reads 'a fourth mover pulls on a strap'.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • stands — 'Stands' is a second main verb with no 'and' or 'who' to join it to 'pulls', which leaves the clause ungrammatical.
  • has stood — 'Has stood' is also a full verb, so it causes the same problem, and its tense does not match the present-tense description.
  • to stand — 'To stand' would express a purpose, as if the mover pulled the strap in order to stand, which makes no sense here.

Practice more of this

More reading practice for Grades 9–10, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 9–10. For other grades, see free ELPAC practice tests by grade.

This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the California Department of Education or the official ELPAC program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published task formats.