Multiple choice

By the time the doctor arrived, the patient died.

Choose the correct form of the verb for the italiced words

  1. had died

  2. has died

  3. will die

  4. would die
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A Correct answer
Explanation

The patient died before the doctor arrived, so we need past perfect 'had died' to show the earlier action. Past perfect places the death before the arrival in the past sequence. 'Has died' is present perfect (connects to now), 'will die' is future, and 'would die' is conditional, all incorrect for showing what happened before another past event.

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