tense

Question

He ____ his paper by saying that the entire
history of human race ____ by transfers of
cultural and technological advance from one
civilisation to another.
A) concluded / had been marked
B) concludes / would have been marked
C) has concluded / was marked
D) had concluded / is marked
E) will conclude / was being marked

I think the answer is A, but if this is true, what's wrong with C?

Bokeh · Accepted Answer

It's "C".

"Had been marked" requires a temporal marker, something your sentence doesn't have.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

He ____ his paper by saying that the entire
history of human race ____ by transfers of
cultural and technological advance from one
civilisation to another.

A) concluded / had been marked
B) concludes / would have been marked
C) has concluded / was marked
D) had concluded / is marked
E) will conclude / was being marked

I think the answer is A, but if this is true, what's wrong with C?

I believe the tester is clearly expecting answer A. However, I think this is not a good test question because C and indeed many if not all of the other answers are possible in an appropriate context / scenario. Yet if you answered with anything other than A, eg E, the tester would probably think 'Oh, that's silly, that's not what I was thinking of'. In other words, in such questions you have to guess what context the tester is imagining.

In a case like this, it would be fairer to ask something like 'What is the simplest answer?' or 'What is the most common answer?'

Best wishes, Clive

BarbaraPA · Answer

CliveHowever, I think this is not a good test question because C and indeed many if not all of the other answers are possible in an appropriate context / scenario.

I'm glad to see you say this, Clive, because I was thinking "I could make any of these be right."

tense

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