Identify the part of the sentence that contains an error.
They have been / very close friends / until they fought.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → They have been
The friendship went on until a point in the past, when they fought. So it ended in the past. The present perfect "have been" joins the past with now. So it cannot be used for something that ended in the past. A past form is needed. The past perfect "had been" fits, because the friendship came before the fight.
Option 1: They have been — Error. “have been” should be “had been”.
Option 2: very close friends — No error.
Option 3: until they fought. — No error. The fight is a finished past event, so the simple past “fought” is right.
Corrected: They had been very close friends until they fought.