Question

Fill in the blank with the correct word.
Today's Headline: The Indian team ________ another Olympic gold medal.

• A. had won
• B. have won
• C. won
• D. wins

Hint:

Remember that newspaper headlines are written in the simple present tense, even for past events.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This question checks whether the reader knows the special tense rule that applies to newspaper headlines.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
Headline writers use the simple present tense to describe events that have already happened, because it makes the news feel current and grabs attention. Only when a headline talks about something that will happen in the future does it switch to the "to" infinitive form. The sentence in the news report itself, in contrast, is written in the normal past tense.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
The sentence is clearly marked as a headline: "Today's Headline: The Indian team ___ another Olympic gold medal." Since this is a headline and not the report body, the past forms "had won" and "have won" do not belong here, and even the plain past tense "won" is avoided by convention.
The word "wins", in the simple present tense, is the standard headline form for reporting a completed win, matching real newspaper style such as "India wins gold" rather than "India won gold".

Step 4: Final Answer:
The correct headline verb is "wins", so the answer is option (d).