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Question

Difficulty: MediumVerbs, Tenses, and Aspect

The chief surgeon remarked during the clinical review that it was high time the hospital management board ________ the outdated diagnostic equipment in the intensive care unit. Which option correctly completes the sentence?

  1. A
    upgrades
  2. upgradedAnswer
  3. C
    should upgrade
  4. D
    has upgraded

Answer

The grammatically correct option is 'upgraded'.
The idiom 'it is high time' (or 'it was high time' in reported speech) is an unreal past construction. When followed by a personal subject, the verb that comes after it must be in the simple past tense regardless of present time reference. Thus, 'upgraded' is the only syntactically correct form.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the key grammatical expression in the sentence.
The sentence features the fixed expression 'it was high time'.
Structures introduced by 'it is time' or 'it is high time' require a past subjunctive / unreal past verb construction when followed by a explicit subject.
2
Select the appropriate verb tense and aspect.
The simple past verb form 'upgraded' is required.
Even though the expression conveys an urgent present or future necessity, English grammatical rules mandate the use of the simple past tense to signify unreal past mood.

Key Concept

Unreal Past Tense with 'It is high time'
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Topics

Verbs, Tenses, and Aspect

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