Executive PrepLab · V5 Practice · Axis 5

Verb tense and sequence

Three layers, in order. Layer 1 isolates the decision with nothing else in the way. Layer 2 hides it inside a full item, the way the exam does. Layer 3 reads your errors back to you and says what to repeat.

Work them in sequence — the diagnosis at the end only means something if you have your Layer 2 results in front of you.

Layer 1

Isolated drills

Layer 1 · 10 drills

Choose the verb form.

D1. By the time the inspectors reached the site, the crew the scaffolding.

D2. The observatory seismic activity continuously since 1974.

D3. She in Lisbon for six years before she moved to Porto.

D4. If the levee , the lower fields would flood within hours.

D5. The report last March.

D6. He said that he the draft the previous week.

D7. The bridge on that site since 1890.

D8. By the end of the decade the plant its millionth unit.

D9. The committee every Tuesday since it was formed.

D10. Although the treaty in 1783, the last garrison did not withdraw until 1786.

The full answers — subject, verb and why — are in Model answers below, as one block. Work the set as a run before you open it.

	Form	Why
D1	had dismantled	Two past events; the earlier takes the past perfect. By the time is the trigger
D2	has recorded	Since + an action continuing into the present
D3	had worked	Before joins two past events; the Lisbon years came first
D4	failed	If + simple past, main clause would + base. Would never goes in the if clause
D5	was published	A single completed event with a time marker; no second event to sequence against
D6	had finished	Reported speech, and the finishing preceded the saying
D7	has stood	Since + a state continuing into the present
D8	will have produced	By + a future point; the future perfect marks completion before it
D9	has met	Since again, this time with a repeated action
D10	was signed	Both dates are given, so the sequence is explicit and the past perfect is unnecessary

The pair that matters most: D1 and D5. Past perfect exists to mark which of two past events came first. When there is only one past event, or when dates make the order explicit, plain past is correct — and D10 shows the exam testing that direction too.

Layer 2

Full items

Now the same decision, buried in a sentence with other things going on. Read the whole sentence, find where the options split, settle one axis at a time.

Item 1

By the time the inspectors reached the site, the crew dismantled the scaffolding and departed.

By the time joins two past events. The dismantling preceded the arrival, so it takes the past perfect. A collapses the sequence, making both simultaneous. B shifts to present perfect in a past narrative. C says the work was still under way, which contradicts and departed.

Item 2

The observatory recorded seismic activity continuously since it opened in 1974.

Since plus an action continuing to the present requires the present perfect. A says the recording stopped. D would need a second past event to sequence against, and there is none. E is progressive without the perfect.

Item 3

She has worked in Lisbon for six years before she moved to Porto in 2019.

Two past events joined by before: she worked in Lisbon, then moved in 2019. The earlier takes the past perfect. A and D use present perfect, which cannot coexist with a completed past event. B collapses the sequence.

Item 4

If the levee would fail during a spring tide, the lower fields would flood within hours.

If + simple past, main clause would + base. A puts would inside the if clause, which is the standard wrong answer here. B mixes present tense with a would main clause. D and E shift to a past-counterfactual, which the main clause does not match.

Item 5

The curator explained that the panel was cleaned twice before it entered the collection in 1954.

Three time points: the cleaning, the entry into the collection in 1954, and the curator’s explanation. The cleanings came first, so past perfect. A makes the cleaning contemporaneous with the entry. B and C are wrong tenses entirely; E puts a future in a past narrative.

Item 6

By the end of this decade the plant will produce its millionth unit.

By + a future point calls for the future perfect: the millionth unit will have been produced before the decade ends. A says it will happen at that moment rather than by then. D is a conditional with no condition.

Item 7

Although the treaty was signed in 1783, the last of the garrisons did not withdraw until three years later.

Correct as written. Both dates are explicit — 1783 and three years later — so the sequence needs no help from the past perfect. B is the trap for anyone who has learned the rule from items 1, 3 and 5 and now applies it everywhere. The exam tests the rule in both directions, and over-applying it is as wrong as missing it.

Item 8

The excavation revealed that the outer wall had been built on foundations that themselves rested on an earlier structure demolished two centuries before.

Three events, all past, in order: the earlier structure was demolished, then the foundations were laid, then the wall was built on them — and all of it precedes the excavation that revealed it. Both verbs in the underlined portion describe states prior to the discovery, so both take the past perfect. A and D leave one or both in simple past, flattening a three-layer sequence. B inverts which one is earlier. E shifts to present.

Answer as many as you like, then check — it scores what you have answered so far.

Layer 3

Diagnosis

Check your Layer 2 answers against this. The pattern of what you missed matters more than how many.

If you missed	It means	Repeat
1, 3, 5	The past perfect for the earlier of two past events is not automatic	D1, D3, D6
2	Since not triggering the present perfect	D2, D7, D9
4	Conditional structure not fixed	D4
6	Future perfect not recognised	D8
7	You over-apply the past perfect	D5, D10
8	You can handle two events but not three	D1, D6

If you missed 7 specifically and got 1, 3 and 5 right: that is a good failure. It means the rule has landed and the restraint has not. Reread D5 and D10 — both are cases where plain past is correct because nothing needs sequencing.