The debate team was concerned that their next opponents ___ better prepared than the last opponents.

Question

Options: had been, would be

Answer 1

The correct option to complete the sentence is "would be."

So the complete sentence would read: "The debate team was concerned that their next opponents would be better prepared than the last opponents."

This suggests a concern about future preparation. If "had been" were used, it would imply concern about past opponents, which does not fit with the context of looking forward to the next debate.