choice an answer

Question

Excerpt from Norse Mythology Part A
Kate McConnaughey

Thor, a son of Woden, ranked next to him among the gods. He rode through the air in a chariot drawn by goats. The Germans called him Donar and Thunar, words which are like our word thunder. From this we can see that he was the thunder god. (3) In his hand he carried a wonderful hammer which always had come back to his hand when he threw it. Its head was so bright that as it flew through the air it made the lightning. (4)When it struck the vast ice mountains, they reeled and splintered into fragments, and thus Thor’s hammer made thunder.
Read the passage. Look at the underlined section marked number 3. There may be a mistake in the way the sentence is written. If you find a mistake, choose the answer that corrects the mistake. If there is no mistake, choose ‘Correct as is.’
A) Correct as is.
B) In his hand he carried a wonderful hammer which always came back to his hand when he threw it.
C) In his hand he carried a wonderful hammer which always did come back to his hand when he threw it.
D) In his hand he carried a wonderful hammer which was always coming back to his hand when he threw it.

Answer 1

The correct answer is B.

"In his hand he carried a wonderful hammer which always came back to his hand when he threw it."

The original sentence reads:

In his hand he carried a wonderful hammer which always had come back to his hand when he threw it.

When you read the underlined sentence, it doesn't flow together correctly. The words "had come" are easily replaced by "came." It sounds better when you read it out loud. "Had come" also changes verb tense in the middle of the sentence, which is generally a bad thing in ELA. C and D are incorrect for similar reasons. Sometimes, you can say the sentence out loud and know what fits the best.