Question

By the time the manager arrived, the team _____ the project presentation.

• A. completed
• B. has completed
• C. had completed
• D. was completing

Hint:

Use the Past Perfect Tense to describe an action completed before another action in the past. \[ \boxed{\text{had + V}_3} \]

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Understand the time sequence. The clause \[ \text{``By the time the manager arrived''} \] describes an action that happened in the past. The completion of the presentation occurred before the manager arrived.

Step 2: Choose the correct tense. When one past action is completed before another past action, the earlier action is expressed in the Past Perfect Tense. Structure: \[ \boxed{\text{Subject + had + Past Participle}} \]

Step 3: Analyse the options.
• (A) completed -- Incorrect. Simple Past does not clearly show which action happened first.
• (B) has completed -- Incorrect. Present Perfect cannot be used with a finished past time.
• (C) had completed -- Correct. It indicates that the presentation was completed before the manager arrived.
• (D) was completing -- Incorrect. Past Continuous indicates an ongoing action, not a completed one.

Step 4: Final conclusion. \[ \boxed{\text{By the time the manager arrived, the team had completed the project presentation.}} \] Hence, the correct option is \(\boxed{(C)}\).