Fill in the blank with the most appropriate verb phrase: "She deserved the accolades as she ____________________ for it."

Introduction / Context:
This cloze test question examines understanding of verb tense and aspect, particularly the past perfect tense. The sentence describes a situation where a person deserved praise or awards because of effort made earlier. The correct answer must express the idea that hard work took place before the time when she received the accolades.

Given Data / Assumptions:

- Sentence: She deserved the accolades as she ____________________ for it. - Options: hardly worked, had hard worked, was working hard, had worked hard. - Deserved is in simple past, referring to a completed action in the past. - The blank describes prior effort that justifies her deserving the accolades.

Concept / Approach:
When one past action causes or explains another past result, English often uses the past perfect tense for the earlier action and simple past for the later action. Here, the later action is deserved the accolades. The earlier action is her sustained effort, so the correct form is had worked hard. This clearly marks the hard work as having been completed before the time at which she received the praise.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the main clause: She deserved the accolades. Step 2: Recognise that the clause as she ______ for it explains the cause or reason. Step 3: Since the hard work occurred before the moment of recognition, past perfect is appropriate. Step 4: Form the past perfect of work hard: had worked hard. Step 5: Insert option D into the sentence: She deserved the accolades as she had worked hard for it. Step 6: Confirm that this version is grammatically correct and expresses the intended relation between effort and reward.

Verification / Alternative check:
Test the other options in context. She deserved the accolades as she hardly worked completely reverses the meaning and suggests she did almost no work, which conflicts with the idea of deserving praise. She had hard worked is not correct English word order and does not follow any standard pattern. She was working hard describes an ongoing action in the past but does not clearly mark it as completed before the recognition; it also sounds less natural in this cause and effect context.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A, hardly worked, is both grammatically correct and logically wrong here, as it implies lack of effort rather than effort. Option B, had hard worked, breaks natural collocation; the adverb hard must follow the verb worked, not stand between had and worked. Option C, was working hard, focuses on a continuous past action without indicating completion, which is weaker in a sentence that summarises a past achievement and its reward.

Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes overlook the time relationship between clauses and select any past form that sounds familiar. A better approach is to ask whether the action in the blank clearly happened before the action in the main clause. If it did, past perfect is usually the best choice, especially in formal exam sentences. Practising with similar patterns, such as He succeeded because he had prepared well, will strengthen this understanding.

Final Answer:
had worked hard is the correct phrase to complete the sentence.