Past Perfect Tense — Exercise 5 (Q&A with Solution’s Explanation and Vocabulary Builder, Learn English)
This practice test trains you to recognize and use the Past Perfect Tense (had + verb 3rd form) in real contexts. Each question includes the correct past-perfect form, a short verb definition (vocabulary builder + POS notes), and detailed one-sentence explanations for every option (A–D) that tell why the option is correct or incorrect and what choosing it would mean. Practice, prepare and improve both English grammar and vocabulary.
English Grammar Definition: Past Perfect (had + past participle form)
- Form: had + past participle (Verb 3rd form).
- Examples: She had finished; They had gone; Had you seen it before?
- Main uses:
- An action completed before another past action or past time.
- To show the earlier of two past events in a narrative.
- Signal words: already, by the time, before, after, until, when, prior to.
- Negatives / Questions: had not (hadn’t) + V3; Had + subject + V3?
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Quiz Instructions
- Read each question and choose the best answer out of four given options.
- On top, header section of the quiz, you will see the “title of the quiz,’ ‘spending-time,’ ‘value of question in points,’ and ‘number of questions.”
- Below on footer, you will see Full Screen mode. As the name suggests, it covers the whole screen. It will save a lot of your time attempting the quiz.
- You can zoom the images given in the questions.
- After submitting the quiz, you can see your score and compare with other users.
- The Full Leaderboard link will take you to a page, where you can see all users attempts.
- Below the quiz box, there are explanation of each options. You can study and try again.
- Best of Luck!
Quiz Question, Answer and Explanation
Note: Do remember in the quiz box above, the questions and options will shuffle, so they won’t have the same sequence like 1, 2, 3, or A, B, C as below.
1. They __ the remediation plan by the time auditors arrived.
A) documented B) had documented C) have documented D) were documenting
Verb: document — verb. To record information for reference; documentation (noun).
Correct: B) had documented
B) Correct: Past perfect — documentation completed before auditors’ arrival.
A) Wrong: Past simple — lacks clarity about order.
C) Wrong: Present perfect — wrong temporal emphasis.
D) Wrong: Past continuous — process, not completed.
2. The team __ a rollback strategy before the first release.
A) defined B) had defined C) have defined D) were defining
Verb: define — verb. To specify meaning or scope; definition (noun).
Correct: B) had defined
B) Correct: Past perfect — shows strategy set before release.
A) Wrong: Past simple — does not show precedence.
C) Wrong: Present perfect — wrong sequence.
D) Wrong: Past continuous — suggests defining in progress.
3. By the time the alert escalated, they __ the mitigation steps.
A) documented B) had documented C) have documented D) were documenting
Verb: document — verb. To record steps or evidence.
Correct: B) had documented
B) Correct: Past perfect — steps already written down before escalation.
A) Wrong: Past simple — neutral past.
C) Wrong: Present perfect — wrong nuance.
D) Wrong: Past continuous — implies documentation ongoing.
4. He __ the data model before sharing it with the architects.
A) finalised B) had finalised C) has finalised D) was finalising
Verb: finalise — verb. To complete and make final.
Correct: B) had finalised
B) Correct: Past perfect — finalisation happened earlier than sharing.
A) Wrong: Past simple — doesn’t emphasise it was done before sharing.
C) Wrong: Present perfect — wrong temporal frame.
D) Wrong: Past continuous — indicates ongoing work.
5. They __ the access policy prior to onboarding new hires.
A) revised B) had revised C) have revised D) were revising
Verb: revise — verb. To alter or improve; revision (noun).
Correct: B) had revised
B) Correct: Past perfect — policy revision completed before onboarding.
A) Wrong: Past simple — neutral past, not sequence specific.
C) Wrong: Present perfect — wrong emphasis.
D) Wrong: Past continuous — implies revision ongoing.
6. By the time the incident closed, they __ all affected nodes.
A) quarantined B) had quarantined C) have quarantined D) were quarantining
Verb: quarantine — verb. To isolate systems/items to prevent spread of problems; quarantine (noun).
Correct: B) had quarantined
B) Correct: Past perfect — nodes were isolated before closure.
A) Wrong: Past simple — doesn’t make the earlier action explicit.
C) Wrong: Present perfect — wrong sequence.
D) Wrong: Past continuous — implies action was ongoing at that time.
7. She __ the contract clauses by the time legal reviewed the draft.
A) annotated B) had annotated C) has annotated D) was annotating
Verb: annotate — verb. To add notes/explanations to a document; annotation (noun).
Correct: B) had annotated
B) Correct: Past perfect — annotations finished prior to legal review.
A) Wrong: Past simple — neutral past.
C) Wrong: Present perfect — incorrect temporal relation.
D) Wrong: Past continuous — would mean annotations were in progress.
8. They __ the emergency runbooks prior to the simulation.
A) updated B) had updated C) have updated D) were updating
Verb: fix — verb. To repair or correct a fault.
Correct: B) had updated
B) Correct: Past perfect — runbooks updated ahead of simulation.
A) Wrong: Past simple — doesn’t show they were finished before simulation.
C) Wrong: Present perfect — wrong sequence.
D) Wrong: Past continuous — suggests in-progress updates.
9. By the time the stakeholders arrived, we __ the dashboard metrics.
A) normalised B) had normalised C) have normalised D) were normalising
Verb: normalise — verb. To adjust data into a standard form; normalization (noun).
Correct: B) had normalised
B) Correct: Past perfect — metrics standardised before stakeholders’ arrival.
A) Wrong: Past simple — doesn’t specify the earlier completion.
C) Wrong: Present perfect — wrong nuance.
D) Wrong: Past continuous — implies process, not prior completion.
10. They __ the escalation policy before it was enforced organization-wide.
A) ratified B) had ratified C) have ratified D) were ratifying
Verb: ratify — verb. To formally approve or confirm; ratification (noun).
Correct: B) had ratified
B) Correct: Past perfect — ratification completed before organisation-wide enforcement.
A) Wrong: Past simple — neutral past tense, lacks the earlier-past relationship.
C) Wrong: Present perfect — incorrect temporal frame.
D) Wrong: Past continuous — suggests ratification was ongoing.
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