Error Identification.

Hello Everyone

I was doing some exercises and found this question difficult.

The goats they their mother's business had been milked at four-thirty their usual custom, but now the horses be fed, the stalls , the few cows they kept for personal use needed to be milked.

Please help me and give me some explanations

Thank you in advance! 👁 Smile :)

The sentence refers to a situation in the past, but one of the verbs is in the present tense - and for no good reason.

Hint - "Now" doesn't mean "now at the time of writing".

velisarius said:

The sentence refers to a situation in the past, but one of the verbs is in the present tense - and for no good reason.

Hint - "Now" doesn't mean "now at the time of writing".

Thanks for your answer, but one more question, what does "as" in:"as was their usual custom" mean? Is it equivalent to "because" or "when" or something else?...

You can paraphrase with "according to their usual custom", but let's keep to your original question.

The error was C: now (at that point in the narration) the horses had to be fed

now the horses had to be fed, the stalls (had to be) mucked out, the few cows they kept for personal use needed to be milked.

Your clue was "needed to be milked", which also depends on "now", and was given to you in the past tense.