Test: Tenses - 2 - Class 9 MCQ

The sentence "The sun sets in the west" uses the present simple tense to describe a general fact or habitual action.

The sentence "We were watching a movie when the power went out" is in the past continuous tense as it describes an ongoing action in the past.

The sentence "They will have arrived by 5 p.m." correctly uses the future perfect tense to indicate an action that will be completed before a specific time in the future.

The sentence "We have been waiting for the bus for an hour" uses the present perfect continuous tense to express an ongoing action that started in the past and is still happening.

The sentence "They had finished dinner before the guests arrived" demonstrates the use of the past perfect tense to indicate an action completed before another past event.

The correct option is "have known" as it uses the present perfect tense to indicate an action that started in the past and continues into the present.

The correct option is "had cooked" as it uses the past perfect tense to indicate an action completed before another past event.

The correct option is "hasn't started" as it uses the present perfect tense to express an action that began in the past and is still ongoing.

The Context:

The sentence describes two events:

1. The bus leaving.
2. You arriving at the station.

You want to convey that the bus left before you arrived at the station.

Understanding the Tenses:

1. Simple Future (will leave):

   • Example: "The bus will leave by the time we arrive at the station."
   • This indicates that the bus is going to leave at some point in the future. However, this doesn't fit the scenario where you're talking about something that already happened in the past.

2. Simple Present (leaves):

   • Example: "The bus leaves by the time we arrive at the station."
   • This would be used to describe a routine or something that happens regularly, not a specific instance in the past.

3. Present Perfect (has left):

   • Example: "The bus has left by the time we arrive at the station."
   • This is close, but "has left" is usually used when the action is still relevant to the present moment. It doesn’t fit the scenario where both actions (the bus leaving and you arriving) have already happened.

4. Past Perfect (had left):

   • Example: "The bus had left by the time we arrived at the station."
   • Past perfect tense is used to show that one action was completed before another action in the past. It clearly indicates that the bus leaving happened first, and your arrival happened afterward.

Why "Had Left" is Correct:

• When you say "The bus had left by the time we arrived at the station," you're establishing that the bus's departure was already a completed action before you arrived. The past perfect tense ("had left") makes it clear that this was the earlier of the two events.

So, the correct tense to use in this scenario is "had left" because it accurately describes the sequence of events in the past.

The correct option is "has been working" as it uses the present perfect continuous tense to describe an action that started in the past and is still ongoing.