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Difficulty: MediumVerbs, Tenses, and Aspect

The academic dean emphasized during the board meeting that it was high time the committee _______ the updated accreditation guidelines. Which verb form correctly completes the sentence?

  1. A
    submits
  2. submittedAnswer
  3. C
    should submit
  4. D
    has submitted

Answer

The past simple form 'submitted' correctly completes the sentence.
The fixed idiomatic structure 'it is high time' (or 'it was high time') followed by a subject noun phrase requires the verb to be in the simple past tense ('submitted'). This usage represents an unreal past construction denoting that an action is urgently overdue.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the syntactic trigger in the clause.
The main clause introduces the fixed subjunctive expression 'it was high time' (or 'it is high time').
The expression 'it is / was high time' introduces a situation where an action is overdue.
2
Apply the tense rule governing 'it is high time + subject'.
The finite verb in the subordinate clause must take the simple past tense (unreal past).
English grammar requires an unreal past verb form to express present or immediate necessity after this expression.
3
Evaluate the choices to find the simple past form.
The option containing 'submitted' provides the required simple past tense.
Present forms, present perfect forms, and modal insertions violate the unreal past constraint.

Key Concept

Unreal Past Tense after 'It is high time'
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Topics

Verbs, Tenses, and Aspect

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