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Choose the correct form: By the time we reached the station, the train ____.

Correct answer: C. had left

  • A. left
  • B. has left
  • C. had left
  • D. was leaving

Explanation

When two past actions are compared, the earlier one takes the past perfect, so the train had already gone before we arrived. The present perfect cannot be used because the whole situation is in the past. The simple past would suggest both events happened at the same moment.

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About Tenses

Tenses show when an action or state occurs and whether it is complete, continuing or repeated. The work covers present, past and future forms, including simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous constructions, as well as sequence of tenses and the difference between tense and aspect.

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