Question 176·Medium·Form, Structure, and Sense
Researchers recently analyzed pottery fragments from coastal settlements in West Africa and South America. The team found that the oldest shards from both regions feature nearly identical decorative patterns, evidence suggesting that transatlantic cultural exchange ______ far earlier than scholars previously believed.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For verb tense questions in Reading & Writing, first locate the subject and the clause the verb belongs to, then use time clues in the sentence—words like “earlier,” “previously,” or time markers—to decide whether the action is in the simple past, present, present perfect, or past perfect. Eliminate any choices whose tense either doesn’t match the time frame (for example, suggesting something is ongoing when it’s clearly finished) or doesn’t fit the sentence structure (such as a base verb where a past-tense verb is needed), and then reread the sentence with your chosen option to confirm it sounds complete and consistent.
Hints
Identify what the blank is doing in the sentence
Look at the part of the sentence starting with “evidence suggesting that…” and decide what role the blank plays in that clause. What is the subject, and what verb does it need?
Use the time clues around the blank
Pay attention to the phrase “far earlier than scholars previously believed.” Does this describe something still happening now, or something that happened in the past?
Match the tense to a completed action
Ask yourself: is the sentence talking about when the exchange started as a completed event, or is it emphasizing an ongoing situation or a sequence of two distinct past events?
Check subject–verb agreement and form
Make sure the verb form you pick can directly follow the singular noun phrase “transatlantic cultural exchange” and still be a complete, standard English clause.
Step-by-step Explanation
Locate the verb that needs to be completed
Focus on the clause after the word “that”:
evidence suggesting that transatlantic cultural exchange ______ far earlier than scholars previously believed.
The blank must be filled with a verb that completes this clause: “transatlantic cultural exchange ___ far earlier…”. So we are choosing the main verb for the subject “transatlantic cultural exchange.”
Determine the time relationship
The sentence is about what the evidence shows now about something that happened in the past:
- Pottery fragments are old.
- The evidence suggests that cultural exchange happened “far earlier than scholars previously believed.”
This tells us the exchange is a completed past event that simply occurred earlier than originally thought. There is no indication that the exchange is ongoing into the present or that we need to show a sequence of two past actions with special emphasis on which came first.
Match the verb tense to a finished past action
Because the sentence describes a finished action in the past (when the cultural exchange took place), we need a simple past verb: the action just happened earlier than believed.
- Present perfect (like “has begun”) would suggest a connection to the present.
- Past perfect (like “had begun”) is typically used when you are clearly contrasting two past moments, one earlier and one later.
- The base form (“begin”) does not agree with the subject in this context.
The only choice that correctly and clearly expresses a completed past action is “began.”
Confirm the sentence reads smoothly with the choice
Insert the correct verb into the sentence:
The team found that the oldest shards from both regions feature nearly identical decorative patterns, evidence suggesting that transatlantic cultural exchange began far earlier than scholars previously believed.
The sentence is now grammatically correct and clearly expresses that the cultural exchange took place in the past, earlier than scholars had thought. The correct answer is C) began.