Mastering Past Tense: The 'By the Time' Scenario

This question tests our understanding of verb tenses, specifically how to sequence actions that happened in the past. The key phrase here is "By the time we arrived," which sets a specific point in the past.

Understanding Past Perfect Tense

When we talk about two actions in the past, and one action happened *before* the other, we use the past perfect tense for the earlier action and the simple past tense for the later action. The structure often involves conjunctions like 'by the time', 'when', or 'before'.

The formula for the past perfect tense is: Subject + had + past participle (verb's third form).

Analyzing the Sentence

The sentence is: "By the time we arrived, the show __________."

• 'we arrived' is an action that happened in the simple past tense. This is our reference point in the past.
• The blank needs to describe the action of the show starting. Since the phrase "By the time we arrived" implies that the show's starting occurred *before* our arrival, we need a tense that shows this completion prior to another past event.

Evaluating the Options

Let's look at why each option fits or doesn't fit:

• 1. will start: This is the future tense. It's incorrect because the entire context ('we arrived') is in the past.
• 2. starts: This is the simple present tense. It's incorrect because the sentence is about past events, not a current or habitual action.
• 3. has started: This is the present perfect tense. It connects a past action to the present. However, our reference point ('we arrived') is purely in the past, so the present perfect doesn't fit the sequence.
• 4. had started: This is the past perfect tense. It correctly indicates that the show's starting was an action completed *before* the past action of 'we arrived'. This fits the structure perfectly.

Conclusion on Tense Usage

Therefore, the past perfect tense, 'had started', is the most appropriate choice to show that the show had already commenced before we reached the location.