She ____ great difficulty getting her new passport because the office was shut.

She ____ great difficulty getting her new passport because the office was shut.

• A. Had
• B. Has
• C. Have
• D. Having

Answer: (A)

Choosing the correct tense to match the time of the event, and using the right pattern after “have difficulty.” The phrase “have difficulty” is followed by a gerund, so the action is in -ing form: “getting.” Because the reason clause “the office was shut” is in the past, the main verb should also be in the past simple to keep the timeline consistent: “She had great difficulty getting her new passport…” This conveys that the trouble happened in the past due to the office being shut. The other options don’t fit because they either clash with the past tense of the reason clause (for example, “has” would imply present time, which doesn’t align with “was shut”) or are not the correct finite form for the subject in this structure (“having” isn’t a valid main verb here).

Choosing the correct tense to match the time of the event, and using the right pattern after “have difficulty.” The phrase “have difficulty” is followed by a gerund, so the action is in -ing form: “getting.” Because the reason clause “the office was shut” is in the past, the main verb should also be in the past simple to keep the timeline consistent: “She had great difficulty getting her new passport…” This conveys that the trouble happened in the past due to the office being shut.

The other options don’t fit because they either clash with the past tense of the reason clause (for example, “has” would imply present time, which doesn’t align with “was shut”) or are not the correct finite form for the subject in this structure (“having” isn’t a valid main verb here).