Teach said B was the correct answer. Was he right?

They’re all incorrect. B is the closest to being right. You’re absolutely correct about the need for articles.

B is correct insofar as it is the only one that both uses the correct form of “be” and uses the “-ing” form to make the past progressive. But you’re right that you need to include “a” or “the” before “game” or to make it plural as “games” for the sentence to be totally correct.

On the off chance that I'm the one on the correct side of the argument, I hope somebody comments a coherent reason I can screenshot and send to him on why I'm correct, as that'll help me a ton. Thanks in advance!

They’re all wrong answers.

Specific games don’t require an article. Playing chess. Playing cards. Playing football. But game needs an article.

You are correct, B would need to be either "a game" or "games".

“They were not playing a game” would be right. In terms of verb conjugation it’s correct

I have questions about two things: 1) Your teacher's grasp of English 2) Your teacher's proofreading abilities Both seem lacking

I hate that I can't explain this. Your teacher is incorrect. None of these make sense, but I can't articulate why.

"They were not playing games" would be English. It won't mean they weren't messing around.

"They were not playing a game" or "They were not playing games" would be correct, depending on what is meant.

None of these are correct.

B is the only one for which both the verbs are correct, but the object is incorrect because a singular noun needs an article. The only exception is if it's an uncountable mass noun, like water or pizza. I play a game. ✓ I play the game. ✓ I play games. ✓ I play game. X I drink water. ✓

They are all not quite right. I suppose that B is closest to correct, because we can fix it by just adding 1 letter, either "**a** game" or "game**s**". The others require I think at least 2 letters added/changed to fix.

All are incorrect.

B is closest to correct. It should be "They were not playing a game." The article is necessary in front of game, to clarify that it is the noun form of game and not the verb.

None of them are correct. You're right in your reasoning. For B to be the right answer, it would have to say either, "They were not playing a game," or "They were not playing games." I'm really curious to know what your teacher says about this.

None of them.

I thought B was right for a second because my mind autofilled in “the”. so no your teacher is wrong. None of these are correct.

Your teacher is a dumbass. Or as he would want it said, "your teacher dumbass". 

I think the teacher made a booboo and forgot the "s" in "games". Ask them if they make the tests themselves. This would explain, what I assume, is a simple misprint on the teacher's part. It happens to me too sometimes even if I triple check.

Hey OP! Sorry but pretty much everyone is giving you the wrong answer in this thread. The correct answer is B. This is an idiom and nothing to do with an actual game. "They were not playing game" means they weren't being cooperative or they were difficult and not doing what you wanted. It's the same as another idiom "they were not playing ball". In summary, B is correct but it's important to know its context. It does sound like your teacher didn't know why it was correct.

"I told him that he should've either changed "game" to games or add an "a" before the word game. " - this is correct, however, if you want to play that game: "\[ \]" = add prefix/suffix & "{ }" subtract prefix/suffix: \- "He was not play\[ing\] a game" AKA "He was not play\[ing\] {a} game\[s\]"; \- ""... (you get the idea BUT #4.. "We was playing \[a\] game" OR "We was \[juss\] playin{g}" OR "We was playing GAME" - of which could have the addition "\[for reals\]"ALL

The corrected sentences are: He was not playing a game. They were not playing a game. Karina was playing a game. We were playing a game. Or you could substitute “game” with something that doesn’t need an article: He was not playing football They were not playing poker Karina was playing chess We were playing basketball

None of them are correct...

They were not playing a/the/any game. They were not playing games.

He’s mistaken.

They all need an article

You are correct, none of the answers are right. And you correctly suggested two possible things that could be done to correct the obvious problem in sentence B. Either of your suggestions would have worked. You clearly understand the material. It is he who needs to study more on the topic of articles. It seems to me you have surpassed your professor. You may need to move on to the next level. Well done.

Games are a countable noun in this context. You are either playing *one* game or many, but you must specify that it’s plural in that case. You could only omit the article or the plural conjugation if it was an uncountable noun (like water, etc.) So they’re all wrong. B is the closest to being correct because the others have other issues like singular subjects combined with plural conjugations of “to be” and stuff like that. But B still either needs an article or you need to change games to plural. In either case it would be fixed. (“…the game, …a game, …games” all fix the sentence)

If "game" is the name of a specific game, then B is correct. Just like "They were not playing poker" is perfectly valid But if it is referring to the concept of playing games, then there needs to ba an article.

Not a native speaker, please correct me, if I'm wrong. B: They were dressed as deer and role-playing wild animals being hunted.

Your teachers being a smartarse. B is incorrect, because it needs an article before game. But it doesn't need to be 'a' - it could be the, or a possessive article such as my or our. Hence him telling you to study that area further!

Your teacher was wrong and you were right. These are all incorrect. B would the correct one with the addition of an article, or if it were "games" rather than just "game".

I recognise that language. Is it Malay or Indonesian language?

Wow, even child who speaks English natively can see these are all wrong. That must’ve frustrating as hell OP 😭

The following would be correct versions of your test question: He was not playing a game. They were not playing the game. Karina was playing a game. We were playing the game. If you don't have to take this class, maybe you should find a different English class. This one looks like it's teaching you a lot of incorrect English.

honestly, D could even be a correct answer, but mostly very informal

c is correct if youre from yorkshire

I'm just repeating what others have said. B is clearly the best option, but it should have an article. 'a game', or 'games', or 'the game' would have been better in the sentence. If you really want to be nitpicky, there should be a period at the end of the sentence for all options.

Is there context to this question or not? B would work so far as if you replaced "ball" with "game". For example: "They were not playing ball" would work. Although I'm not sure that I've ever seen the word "game" used like that, I think it could be reasonable depending on context.

In addition to requiring an article for “game,” you also would need one in your question, which would read “The teacher…” or “My teacher…” Your question as stated comes off extremely informal and bordering on disrespectful (to call or refer to a teacher as “Teach”).

They're all wrong, but B is the least wrong (should be "a game", "the game", or "games"). The others, the verb does not match the subject.