In his 1963 exhibition Exposition of Music—Electronic Television, Korean American artist Nam June Paik showed how
television images could be manipulated to express an artist’s perspective. Today, Paik ______ considered the ﬁrst video artist.
will be
had been
was
is
Choice D is the best answer. The convention being tested is the use of verbs to express tense. In this choice, the present
tense verb “is,” used in conjunction with the word “today,” correctly indicates that Paik is currently considered the ﬁrst video
artist.
Choice A is incorrect because the future-indicating verb “will be” doesn’t indicate that Paik is currently considered the ﬁrst
video artist. Choice B is incorrect because the past perfect tense verb “had been” doesn’t indicate that Paik is currently
considered the ﬁrst video artist. Choice C is incorrect because the past tense verb “was” doesn’t indicate that Paik is
currently considered the ﬁrst video artist.