State exactly ______ it took for ______ to be ______

State exactly ______ it took for ______ to be ______

• A. When, soiled dishes, removed
• B. How long, soiled dishes, removed
• C. How long, soiled, removed
• D. How long, soiled dishes, removed

Answer: (C)

The key idea is expressing duration correctly in a sentence with “it took.” When you’re asking for how much time elapsed, you use how long rather than when, because how long targets duration, not a specific clock time. In this template, the middle part after “for” points to what experienced the action. Dropping the noun is acceptable in a concise, formal instruction style if the context makes the object clear; here, soiled serves as a compact stand-in for the thing being removed, so the phrase reads as if the soiled item is understood. The final blank comes after “to be,” and that position needs a past participle to form the passive infinitive describing the action: removed. So the sentence reads: State exactly how long it took for soiled to be removed. That matches the intended concise construction for expressing duration, with the action expressed passively.

The key idea is expressing duration correctly in a sentence with “it took.” When you’re asking for how much time elapsed, you use how long rather than when, because how long targets duration, not a specific clock time.

In this template, the middle part after “for” points to what experienced the action. Dropping the noun is acceptable in a concise, formal instruction style if the context makes the object clear; here, soiled serves as a compact stand-in for the thing being removed, so the phrase reads as if the soiled item is understood.

The final blank comes after “to be,” and that position needs a past participle to form the passive infinitive describing the action: removed.

So the sentence reads: State exactly how long it took for soiled to be removed. That matches the intended concise construction for expressing duration, with the action expressed passively.