Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word. Take your umbrella. It ___. A. was raining B. rained C. rains D. is raining

The correct answer is: D. is raining

The sentence is in the present tense, so the verb should also be in the present tense. The other options are in the past tense, which does not make sense in the context of the sentence.

• A. was raining is in the past tense. This would be correct if the sentence was about rain that happened in the past. For example, “It was raining yesterday.”
• B. rained is also in the past tense. This would be correct if the sentence was about rain that happened once and is not happening now. For example, “It rained last night.”
• C. rains is in the present tense. This would be correct if the sentence was about rain that happens regularly. For example, “It rains a lot in Seattle.”

In the sentence “Take your umbrella. It is raining,” the speaker is telling the listener to take an umbrella because it is raining now. The speaker is not talking about rain that happened in the past or rain that will happen in the future. The speaker is talking about rain that is happening right now. Therefore, the correct answer is “is raining.”