Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word. He ________ about to give up his job when they offered him a rise. A. was B. is C. has been D. had been

The correct answer is A. was.

The sentence is in the past tense, so we need to use a past tense verb. Of the four options, only was is a past tense verb.

B. is is in the present tense, and C. has been and D. had been are in the perfect tense. The perfect tense is used to talk about something that happened before a specific time in the past. In this sentence, there is no specific time in the past mentioned, so we cannot use the perfect tense.

Therefore, the correct answer is A. was.