Fill in the blank with the correct option.
My friend had barely ___ to pull out of the garage when he realised that he had left the dog inside.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → started
Past perfect with "barely ... when":
- Clue word: "had" is already in the sentence before the blank, with "barely ... when".
- The past perfect is had + past participle (V3); after "had", only the past participle can follow: had started.
- "Had barely (hardly, scarcely) ... when" shows that one past action had only just begun when another happened.
- Complete sentence: My friend had barely started to pull out of the garage when he realised that he had left the dog inside.
Example: We had barely started the match when it began to rain.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: had been starting — Incorrect. It would give "had barely had been starting", with "had" twice.
Option 2: have started — Incorrect. It would give "had barely have started"; a second helping verb cannot follow "had".
Option 3: will start — Incorrect. "Had will start" mixes the past helping verb with the future "will"; the whole event is in the past.
Contrast: after "had", only the past participle follows (had started), never another helping verb (had have, had will).