SAT Reading & Writing · Form, Structure, and Sense
By the time investigators finally traced the source of the contamination, the affected water supply ______ several hundred residents over…
By the time investigators finally traced the source of the contamination, the affected water supply ______ several hundred residents over the course of nearly three weeks.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Answer and explanation
Answer: D: had sickened
Two past events occur in sequence: the water supply sickening residents happened first, over three weeks, and investigators tracing the source happened afterward, still in the past. That earlier-past-before-a-later-past relationship calls for the past perfect, *had sickened*. *Sickens* doesn't fit a narrative entirely set in the past. *Sickened* would place both events at roughly the same time, losing the sequence the sentence describes. *Has sickened* incorrectly ties the sickening to the present moment instead of to a point before the investigators' discovery.
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