MCQ
Tenses & sequence of tenses MCQ - Practice Questions with Answers
Solve 13 Tenses & sequence of tenses questions for RAS/RPSC preparation.
Practice questions
Q1Select the most appropriate tense to complete the sentence: By the time the audit team arrives next Monday, the accounts department ______ the reconciliation for nearly three weeks.
The phrase "By the time the audit team arrives next Monday" sets a future reference point. The expression "for nearly three weeks" shows duration continuing up to that point. For an action that will be in progress for a period before a future time, English uses the future perfect continuous: "will have been working on". The present perfect continuous would stop at the present, and the past perfect continuous would need a past reference point. The simple future lacks the completed-duration idea.
Q2Assertion (A): The sentence 'In Chapter III, the narrator discovers that the witness has lied' is acceptable in a literary analysis. Reason (R): The present tense may be used to discuss events inside a text, while the present perfect can mark a prior event whose relevance continues within that discussion.
Literary analysis often uses the present tense to describe events in a text, even if the book was written in the past. Here, 'the narrator discovers' is an example of the literary present. The present perfect 'has lied' is also defensible because the lying occurred before the discovery but remains relevant at the point of analysis. The reason therefore explains the assertion: the sentence is not a random tense mixture but a standard sequence used in discussing texts.
Q3Choose the option that best completes the sentence. By the time the committee submits its revised report next month, the audit team ______ the disputed expenditure for nearly six weeks.
The phrase 'By the time ... next month' sets a future reference point, and 'for nearly six weeks' stresses duration continuing up to that point. The correct tense is therefore the future perfect continuous: 'will have been examining'. It shows that the audit team's examination will start before the committee submits the report and will continue until, or nearly until, that future moment. The future continuous lacks the completed-duration idea, while present and past perfect forms attach the action to the wrong time frame.
Q4Match List I with List II. List I: P. No sooner had the auditor signed the certificate than the board demanded a copy. Q. She has worked in the archives since 2018. R. The notice said that the seminar would resume after the recess. S. The files had been indexed before the inquiry began. List II: 1. Present perfect for a state continuing from the past to the present 2. Future-in-the-past after a past reporting verb 3. Past perfect with 'no sooner ... than' 4. Past perfect passive for an earlier completed action
P uses the fixed correlative pattern 'No sooner had ... than', where the past perfect commonly follows the initial expression. Q uses the present perfect with 'since 2018' because the work began in the past and continues up to the present. R has a past reporting verb, 'said', and 'would resume' expresses future time viewed from that past point. S uses 'had been indexed', the past perfect passive, because the indexing was completed before the inquiry began.
Q5Assertion (A): If the reporting verb is in the past tense, a universal truth in the reported speech need not be changed into the past tense. Reason (R): Universal truths are treated as generally valid, not as events limited to the time of reporting.
The ordinary rule in indirect speech is backshifting after a past reporting verb: 'is' often becomes 'was', 'will' becomes 'would', and so on. However, universal truths, scientific facts and permanent facts commonly remain in the present tense because their validity is not confined to the speaker's past statement. Thus, 'He said that the earth revolves round the sun' is acceptable. The reason gives exactly this basis, so both the assertion and the reason are true, and the reason explains the assertion.
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More questions
6Choose the grammatically correct indirect speech version of the sentence: The lecturer said, "Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius under normal pressure."
7Which of the following sentences contains a tense error?
8Match List I with List II and choose the correct option. List I: 1. Present perfect for a past action with present result 2. Past perfect for an earlier past action 3. Simple present in a future time clause 4. Historical present List II: a. After the curator had locked the gallery, the alarm began to ring. b. When the minister reaches the venue, the briefing will begin. c. The poet walks into the court and challenges the king. d. The committee has approved the revised draft, so printing can begin.
9Read the Assertion and Reason carefully and choose the correct option. Assertion (A): In the sentence "If the board had disclosed the risk earlier, investors would have reacted differently", the tense sequence is correct. Reason (R): A past unreal condition normally takes the past perfect in the if-clause and "would have" plus the past participle in the main clause.
10Which option contains an incorrect use of tense?
11Match List I with List II and choose the correct option. List I: 1. The research assistant has been cataloguing manuscripts since dawn. 2. When the panel arrived, the witnesses had already left. 3. The selection interview starts at 9 a.m. tomorrow. 4. The treasurer said he would disclose the figures after the audit. List II: a. Future event expressed through an official schedule b. Future in the past after a past reporting verb c. Present perfect continuous showing duration from the past to the present d. Past perfect showing the earlier of two past events
12Consider the following statements about tense usage. Statement 1: In a real condition referring to the future, the if-clause normally uses the present simple, not 'will'. Statement 2: In an unreal present condition, the main clause normally uses 'would have' with the past participle. Statement 3: In a mixed conditional, a past condition may have a present result. Which of the above statements are correct?
13Choose the most appropriate option to complete the given sentence. They withheld his results. He ________ the proof of his age.