Why this matters on the SAT
A verb's tense says when its action happens, and the passage tells you when, if you know where to look. You'll know these questions by their choices: forms of one verb, such as goes, went, is going and will go, that all agree with the subject. So, unlike the agreement questions in lesson 8, number can't decide; only the time changes. The question is really asking one thing: when does this action happen, judged by the passage? These make up about one in fifteen grammar questions, and a time clue decides almost every one: a date, a word like since or today, or the verbs around the blank.
Solution to the example
Every choice fits station, one thing, so the time decides. The sentence opens with a past date, In 1922, and began, joined to the blank by “and”, is past too. The past form of go is went. The answer is B. A tempts most, because goes on the air sounds like a station's daily routine, but In 1922 and began put this action in the past. C and D put it in the present and the future.
SAT example
In 1922, the first public radio station in the city _____ on the air and began broadcasting news and music to thousands of listeners.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
goes
went
is going
will go
Keeping a passage's verbs in one time is called tense consistency. The rule is short: when no time word says when the blank's action happens, the blank takes the tense of the verbs around it. In the examples, the verb the choices would test is bold, and the clue that decides it is underlined.
The same blank takes leaves in the first passage and left in the last. The action didn't change; the verbs around it did. Facts, habits, processes and definitions usually sit in the present, so in a passage that explains how something works, the blank does too.
A verb joined to the blank by “and” is the nearest clue of all. Lesson 1 showed that items joined by “and” match, and for verbs that means they share a tense, unless a time word changes it, as in left at six and will return tomorrow.
On this question, look for a time word first, and with none, match the verbs around the blank.
Practice problem
To endure months without rain, the saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) ______ water in its pleated stem, which can swell after a storm.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A book, play, film or painting has a date, but the date says when the work appeared, not when its events happen. What happens inside a work is told in the present, and the passage's other verbs about it will be present too.
The year pulls you toward the past, and that's the trap. But the captain keeps her log every time someone reads the book, and follows is present. Writing the book is different: it happened once, in 1951, so it takes the past.
Shows or showed? Painted in 1889, the canvas ______ a ferry crossing a gray harbor at dawn, and a single gull circles above it.
When a past date or period says when the blank's action happened, the blank takes the simple past, the plain past form: crossed, made, was. Many verbs have an irregular one: go → went, become → became.
A period works like a date: back in the 1920s, from 1924 to 1937, during the 1930s. A finished period takes the simple past too: during the 1930s is a clue for the past, not for has. But during a period that comes around again, as in during dry spells in a passage about how a plant survives, goes with the present, like the verbs around it. And the date is often a sentence earlier, so read the sentence before the blank, not just the blank's own.
A verb about the present nearby doesn't move a past event:
Have praised is about the historians now. The keeping happened in the winter of 1924, so it stays in the simple past.
Carried or has carried? During the 1930s, the ferry ______ mail as well as passengers.
A passage often gives a past date and then turns to the present with today or now. After today or now, the blank takes the present, whatever date came before.
Try this question: read both sentences for time words, and let the one in the blank's own sentence decide.
Practice problem
During the 1950s, Japanese American artist Toshiko Takaezu began creating rounded ceramic vessels with only small openings at the top. Today, these sculptural forms ____ influential among ceramic artists.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Sometimes a passage names a past moment and says something was already done by then. Grammar books call had plus the -ed form (had carried, or had gone for an irregular verb) the past perfect. When the passage names a later past moment, an action already done by then takes had. The clues are by the time, by with a past date (by 1937), already with when, and earlier.
The crossings came first and the bridge opening came later, so had marks the earlier action. One had can serve two verbs joined by “and”: the ferry had carried passengers and delivered the mail means had carried and had delivered.
Had needs that later moment. Past events told one after another take the simple past, even though one came first:
In a by the time sentence, the by the time clause names the later moment, and the other clause holds the action that was already done. So the had goes in the other clause, and the by the time clause takes the simple past.
By the time and had go together, so a had choice in the by the time clause tempts. But when the other clause already has its had, the blank in the by the time clause is the later action.
Reached or had reached? By the time the storm ______ the harbor, the crew had tied down every boat.
In this question, find the later past moment, then ask which action was already done by it.
Practice problem
In a 2021 interview, a concert pianist explained that by the time she made her professional debut, she _____ in local competitions for years.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Grammar books call has or have plus the -ed form (has crossed, have added) the present perfect. It's for an action that started in the past and reaches the present, so when since names a starting time (since 1924, since then, since it began), the blank takes has or have.
A date sits right beside since, so the simple past tempts. But since 1924 runs from 1924 up to now, and the simple past would end it in the past. When since means because, as in since the ferry was late, it isn't a time clue at all.
For and over the past work the same way when the action reaches the present:
In a passage about the past, for or since that runs up to a later past moment goes with had instead, as in the bridge sentence: had carried passengers for thirteen years. And the verb inside the since clause itself stays in the simple past: since it began.
Try this question: find the starting time since names, then choose the tense that runs from then up to now.
Practice problem
In 2020, the city council approved a plan to renovate several public parks. Since then, construction crews _____ three of the five playgrounds originally scheduled for improvement.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Here's the move that makes these questions fast. Each tense in the choices needs a clue in the passage, so a tense whose clue is missing can't be the answer.
| Tense | The clue it needs |
|---|---|
| present (crosses) | the present verbs around it, a fact or habit, a period that comes around again (each winter, during droughts), what happens inside a work, today or now |
| simple past (crossed) | a past date or period, or the past verbs around it |
| has or have (has crossed) | since a starting time, or for or over the past reaching now |
| had (had crossed) | a later past moment it was done by: by the time, by 1937, already … when, earlier |
| will (will cross, will have crossed) | a future clue: next year, in a later chapter |
| was or were + -ing (was crossing) | a past action in progress when something else happened: was crossing when the storm hit |
The last two rows are rare answers, but they often sit among the choices as decoys. A would form, such as would cross, is rarer still as an answer. Like any tense, it needs a clue, such as an if or a past moment looking ahead (she knew the ferry would leave at six), so set it aside when the passage gives none. Once in a while the blank sits in an if clause about the past, and then it takes had, beside could have or would have in the other part: If the ferry had left on time, it would have missed the storm.
Most choices fail this test in seconds. That makes one routine for every tense question, the one the worked examples and the practice problems at the end follow:
In this question, a past moment opens the sentence, and the blank's action came before it. One choice sounds finished enough to pass.
Worked example
When the documentary premiered in 2021, filmmaker Nia Okafor _____ hundreds of hours of archival footage and interviewed dozens of witnesses, a preparation that lent the film its unusual specificity.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
already edited
was already editing
already edits
had already edited
Step 1
The choices are four forms of edit, and each fits filmmaker Nia Okafor, one person. So number can't decide; the time does.
Step 2
The sentence opens with a past moment, When the documentary premiered in 2021. The editing and interviewing were a preparation for the film, so they were already done by the premiere. A later past moment and an action already done by then: that calls for had.
C's present, already edits, fails at once: 2021 is past.
Step 3
Here's the trap. A, already edited, sounds finished, and it matches interviewed, so it tempts most. But beside When … premiered, a simple past puts the editing at the premiere, the way When the bridge opened, the ferry lost half its passengers puts the two together. The passage needs the editing done before it, and already alone doesn't mark that; had does. Interviewed doesn't need a had of its own: one had serves both verbs, had already edited … and interviewed dozens of witnesses.
B, was already editing, has her still editing at the premiere. That's the shape of an action in progress when something else happens, but the editing was a preparation for the film, finished before it premiered.
Step 4
The editing came before the premiere, so it takes had. The answer is D.
Here a publication date opens the passage, and the blank tells what happens inside the book.
Worked example
Published in 1877, Anna Sewell’s novel Black Beauty is narrated by a horse. In the opening chapter, the narrator _____ his early years on a peaceful farm before he is sold to a succession of owners. The first-person narration invites readers to consider how humans treat working animals.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
described
will have described
had described
describes
Step 1
The choices are four forms of describe, and each fits the narrator, one horse. So the time decides.
Step 2
Published in 1877 is the only date in the passage, so A's simple past, described, tempts most. But the date says when the book appeared. The blank tells what happens in its opening chapter, and a story's events don't happen in 1877; they happen every time someone reads the book. So the date isn't a clue for the blank, and A is out.
Step 3
With no time word for the story's events, read the verbs around the blank. The book is narrated by a horse, the narrator's years come before he is sold, and the narration invites readers: all present. A story's events stay in the present.
B, will have described, needs a future clue, and C, had described, needs a later past moment. The passage has neither.
Step 4
The blank matches the present verbs around it. The answer is D.
These five questions mix the time clues, and some put the clue a sentence away or far from the blank. On each one, run the routine: check that the choices agree, find the time clue, then match it.
Practice problem
The Riverside Bridge opened to traffic in 1932 and quickly became a key route for commuters. It ______ designed by engineer Lila Chen.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Practice problem
Many modernist novels experiment with narrative structure. In William Faulkner’s 1930 novel As I Lay Dying, the story _____ through fifty-nine brief monologues delivered by fifteen different characters, a structure that forces readers to assemble the plot themselves.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Practice problem
By the time the excavation team _____ the first intact amphora, they had already mapped the site’s foundations and cataloged hundreds of smaller fragments.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Practice problem
Since its publication in 1951, Rachel Carson’s book The Sea Around Us, together with the magazine essays that preceded it, ______ publishers’ assumptions that popular science must trade precision for broad appeal.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Practice problem
It was not until its first performance in 1959 that Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, with its cast of contending voices and its precise Chicago setting, ______ audiences’ expectations of what a Broadway drama could address.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Finish the lesson
Finish the remaining questions correctly to complete this lesson.
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