What story should your sentence tell?
ETS describes Writing as a communication task in which grammar serves a specific purpose. So start with a situation rather than a list of verb forms. A student is explaining a booking problem: what happened, what do they observe now, and what do they ask for next? These three pieces of information do not necessarily refer to the same point in time.
Our first step is to picture a simple timeline: before, point of reference, after. In “The printer stopped on Monday. It is still unavailable,” the incident happened on Monday, but the unavailability describes the present. The shift in tense is useful: it separates the event from its current consequence. Using the same tense throughout would erase this distinction.
How can you recognize a period that has truly ended?
The British Council distinguishes events in a completed time period from those still connected to the present. With “last Tuesday” or another explicitly completed period, the simple past describes the event in its past setting. “The department replaced the scanner last Tuesday” gives the date of the repair; the text can then explain its current result.
Do not choose a tense based on a single word. “This term” may refer to a period that is still in progress; a sentence that says the term has ended calls for a different reading. In your draft, underline the full time expression, including any clarification that follows it. Context matters more than an automatic association between an adverb and a tense.
It is now July. During the winter term, which ended in March, the campus radio team ___ six interviews. Choose the grammatical form for this completed period.
Choose an answer.
The solution, step by step
B: “recorded.”
The method in action
- The account is set in July, and the term ended in March: “recorded” places the six interviews in that completed period.
- A uses the present perfect despite the completed past time frame. C is not a grammatical verb phrase. D states the event in the present rather than giving the requested past account.
What changes when an event is connected to the present?
The present perfect is formed with “have” or “has” and a past participle. The British Council associates it with experiences up to now, ongoing situations, or events that matter in the present. Compare these two sentences: “I submitted the form on Friday” dates the submission; “I have submitted the form, so you can review it now” presents it as a current update.
When writing an email, first state what your recipient needs to understand today. You can then add a simple past sentence to date an action. Being precise does not require you to use more complex forms. Learn the past participles of verbs you actually use, and check that the auxiliary agrees with its subject: “the student has,” “the students have.”
How can you look back from a point in the past?
The past perfect, “had” followed by a past participle, lets you look back from a point that is already in the past. In our account, “The researcher arrived at nine. The team had calibrated the sensor,” the arrival is the point of reference; the calibration happened earlier. The British Council describes this retrospective use in its reference on the perfect.
When reading, turn this relationship into two numbered steps. You do not need to know how the sensor works to understand what happened before the arrival. In your writing, do not add “had” to every verb in a narrative: ask which past event justifies looking further back.
When the ecologist opened the storage cabinet at noon, the interns had labelled every soil tray. Which timeline matches the sentence?
Choose an answer.
The solution, step by step
C: the labeling was complete before the cabinet was opened.
The method in action
- “Opened” provides the past reference point: noon. “Had labelled” places the labeling before that point, and “every” refers to all the trays.
- A reverses the order. B moves both actions into the future. D changes who did the labeling and turns an earlier event into a simultaneous one.
The pitfall
Translating the French passé composé mechanically
The French “j’ai envoyé” can describe a dated submission or give a current update. Its resemblance to “I have sent” does not determine the English form. Before translating, restate what you mean: are you describing what happened on Friday or confirming now that the document has been sent?
For a short practice session, write the same message using two explicit time frames. Then review the dates and auxiliary verbs. This focused check helps you connect verb forms to a concrete situation. Our exercises are for grammar practice and are not converted into TOEFL scores.
Key takeaways
- Identify the point of reference before choosing a verb form.
- A completed period and an update connected to the present do not tell the same story.
- The past perfect looks back from a point in the past.
- Review the time context, subject, auxiliary, and participle together.