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Question

Difficulty: MediumVerbs, Tenses, and Aspect

Complete the sentence below by supplying the grammatically correct verb form in the blank.

Answer:Long before the emergency session commenced yesterday evening, the board of directors 【had reached】 a consensus on the proposed budget.

Answer

had reached
The past perfect form 'had reached' is correct because it properly expresses a completed action that occurred prior to another past event ('commenced'). The temporal marker 'Long before' reinforces the need for the past perfect tense to establish the earlier timeline.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the time markers and clause relationships in the sentence.
The sentence describes two past actions: the emergency session commencing yesterday evening (simple past) and the board reaching a consensus prior to that time.
The time expression 'Long before' establishes that one past action occurred before another specified past event.
2
Select the appropriate tense and aspect for an action completed prior to a past reference point.
The past perfect tense ('had reached') is required.
The past perfect tense (had + past participle) expresses an action completed prior to another point in past time.

Key Concept

Past Perfect Tense in Past Time Sequence
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Verbs, Tenses, and Aspect

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