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SAT Reading & Writing: Verb Tense and Form (Drill 1)

Drill 1 · Reading & Writing · Verb Tense and Form

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About This Drill

SAT Reading & Writing: Verb Tense and Form (Drill 1) is a Reading & Writing practice drill covering Verb Tense and Form. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.

SAT verb tense questions test whether you can select the verb form that is logically consistent with time-signal words and the tense of surrounding verbs. This drill includes questions requiring past, present, and future perfect tenses as well as modal constructions.

Questions & Explanations

Text
Since her appointment in 2015, Dr. Okafor ________ as the primary liaison between the university's research division and its international partners.

Question 1. Which choice conforms to Standard English?

  • A) served
  • B) serves
  • C) has served ✓
  • D) will serve

Explanation: 'Since 2015' signals an action that began in the past and continues to the present, present perfect ('has served').

Text
Last year, the conservation team ________ a comprehensive survey of nesting sites along the southern coastline.

Question 2. Which choice conforms to Standard English?

  • A) completed ✓
  • B) has completed
  • C) completes
  • D) had completed

Explanation: 'Last year' is a definite past time. Simple past ('completed') is correct. Present perfect requires no specific time; past perfect requires a second past reference.

Text
By the time the regulatory agency issued its revised guidelines, the pharmaceutical company ________ contracts with three overseas distributors.

Question 3. Which choice conforms to Standard English?

  • A) signs
  • B) has signed
  • C) will have signed as used in the sentence
  • D) had already signed ✓

Explanation: Two past events, one before the other. Past perfect ('had already signed') indicates the earlier action.

Text
The university's current financial aid policy ________ tuition, housing, and meal expenses for students whose family income falls below the poverty threshold.

Question 4. Which choice conforms to Standard English?

  • A) covered
  • B) covers ✓
  • C) has covered
  • D) will cover

Explanation: 'Current' signals the present. Simple present ('covers') describes what the policy does now.

Text
Marine biologists ________ that the global population of blue whales now numbers between ten thousand and twenty-five thousand individuals.

Question 5. Which choice conforms to Standard English?

  • A) estimate ✓
  • B) estimated
  • C) had estimated
  • D) will estimate

Explanation: 'Now numbers' confirms the present time frame. Simple present ('estimate') describes a current scientific consensus.