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Question

Difficulty: MediumVerbs, Tenses, and Aspect

Identify the correct verb tense and aspect required to complete the sentence below.

Answer:The managing director expressed that she would rather the finance officer 【had submitted】 the quarterly report before yesterday's board meeting.

Answer

The correct verb form is 'had submitted'.
The expression 'would rather' followed by a clause subject (the finance officer) and referring to a completed past time frame ('before yesterday's board meeting') requires the past perfect tense ('had submitted') to express an unfulfilled past wish or unreal past condition.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the syntactic structure of the sentence.
The sentence uses the structure 'would rather + subject + clause' expressing an unreal past preference.
When 'would rather' is followed by a subject and refers to a past time period (indicated by 'before yesterday's board meeting'), the past perfect tense is required.
2
Determine the appropriate tense and aspect.
The past perfect form of 'submit' is 'had submitted'.
The past perfect ('had + past participle') expresses a hypothetical or desired situation in the past that did not occur.

Key Concept

Unreal Past with 'would rather'
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Verbs, Tenses, and Aspect

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