In this sentence improvement question on verb tense and aspect, choose the best replacement for the bracketed part in "My patients (were waited) for me since morning." so that the sentence is grammatically correct.

Introduction / Context:

This question assesses your understanding of correct tense and voice in English. The sentence given is "My patients (were waited) for me since morning." The bracketed portion is incorrect, and you must choose the alternative that makes the full sentence grammatical and natural. The time expression "since morning" is a clear clue about which tense and aspect should be used.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Subject: "My patients".
• Incorrect verb phrase: "were waited".
• Time expression: "since morning".
• Options: wait, had been waited, have been waiting, and no improvement.
• The meaning is that the patients started waiting in the morning and are still waiting at the time of speaking.

Concept / Approach:

In English, the pattern "since + point in time" usually takes the present perfect or present perfect continuous tense to describe an action that began in the past and continues into the present. For actions that are ongoing, the present perfect continuous ("have been waiting") is especially appropriate. The phrase "were waited" is also wrong because "wait" is an intransitive verb here; patients do the waiting themselves, so a passive construction is not suitable. Therefore the correct verb phrase should be active and in the present perfect continuous: "have been waiting".

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:

Read the corrected sentence aloud: "My patients have been waiting for me since morning." This structure correctly expresses an action that began at a specific time in the past and continues to now. If you try "My patients wait for me since morning", it sounds wrong to native speakers. "My patients had been waited for me" is grammatically flawed and also wrongly passive. "No improvement" leaves the obviously incorrect phrase "were waited", which fails in both tense and voice. The corrected version with present perfect continuous fits all grammatical requirements and common usage patterns.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

"Wait" in the simple present does not combine naturally with "since morning" to describe a continuous action. "Had been waited" is both the wrong tense and the wrong voice, because it suggests that someone else was waiting for the patients, not that the patients themselves were waiting. "No improvement" cannot be correct because "were waited" misuses the passive form and sounds completely unnatural. Only "have been waiting" properly expresses continuous action from a point in the past up to the present moment.

Common Pitfalls:

Many learners confuse "for" and "since", as well as present perfect and simple present. A useful rule is that "since" marks a starting point in time and almost always calls for a perfect tense when describing an ongoing situation. Additionally, remember that transitive verbs take objects and can form passive structures, but intransitive verbs like "wait" cannot normally be used in the passive voice with the original subject still present in the same way.

Final Answer:

The correct improved sentence is "My patients have been waiting for me since morning."