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ECAT — Engineering College Admission Test (UET)

ECAT English — Tenses and Subject-Verb Agreement (Set 6)

Take the ECAT English — Tenses and Subject-Verb Agreement (Set 6): 30 multiple-choice questions (40 minutes) with instant scoring and a full answer…

What this test covers

Sample questions with answers

The first 5 questions of this test, with the correct answer and explanation.

  1. Q1. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: Hardly had the speaker finished his opening remarks ___ the audience began to applaud.

    • A. after
    • B. when ✓
    • C. until
    • D. while

    Answer: B. when

    Explanation: 'Hardly ... when' is the fixed correlative pair; the past perfect 'had finished' is followed by 'when' plus the simple past.

  2. Q2. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: By the time we reach the airport tomorrow, the flight ___.

    • A. will already have departed ✓
    • B. has already departed
    • C. already departs
    • D. would already depart

    Answer: A. will already have departed

    Explanation: A future action completed before another future point ('by the time we reach') takes the future perfect.

  3. Q3. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: If I ___ the answer, I would have told you yesterday.

    • A. would know
    • B. knew
    • C. have known
    • D. had known ✓

    Answer: D. had known

    Explanation: A third conditional (unreal past) needs the past perfect in the if-clause: 'had known' ... 'would have told'.

  4. Q4. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: Everyone except the two interns ___ present at the meeting yesterday.

    • A. have been
    • B. are
    • C. were
    • D. was ✓

    Answer: D. was

    Explanation: 'Everyone' is singular and 'except the two interns' does not change that; yesterday requires the past tense, so 'was'.

  5. Q5. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: Neither the principal nor the teachers ___ aware of the change last week.

    • A. is
    • B. was
    • C. has been
    • D. were ✓

    Answer: D. were

    Explanation: With 'neither ... nor' the verb agrees with the nearer subject, 'teachers' (plural); 'last week' needs the past tense: 'were'.

The other 25 questions

Take the timed test (free, no sign-up) to see your score and the answer and explanation for every question.

  1. Q6. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: Since the experiment began, the temperature of the mixture ___ steadily.

    • A. had risen
    • B. rises
    • C. rose
    • D. has risen

  2. Q7. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: By next December, the company ___ in Lahore for exactly twenty years.

    • A. would operate
    • B. will operate
    • C. will have operated
    • D. has operated

  3. Q8. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: The pilot realised that the fuel ___ since take-off, so he turned back.

    • A. has been leaking
    • B. will be leaking
    • C. leaks
    • D. had been leaking

  4. Q9. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: Either the manager or his two deputies ___ going to sign the agreement tomorrow.

    • A. were
    • B. is
    • C. are
    • D. was

  5. Q10. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: I wish I ___ more attention during the lecture last week.

    • A. had paid
    • B. paid
    • C. would pay
    • D. have paid

  6. Q11. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: It is high time we ___ the old bridge before it collapses.

    • A. have replaced
    • B. replaced
    • C. replace
    • D. will replace

  7. Q12. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: When I called at noon, the engineers ___ the generator.

    • A. still repaired
    • B. had still repair
    • C. were still repairing
    • D. are still repairing

  8. Q13. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: The children ___ for two hours when the power finally came back.

    • A. had been playing
    • B. were played
    • C. have been playing
    • D. are playing

  9. Q14. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: Not only the students but also their teacher ___ invited to the ceremony.

    • A. were
    • B. was
    • C. have been
    • D. are

  10. Q15. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: The news about the earthquakes in the northern valleys ___ shocked the entire region.

    • A. were
    • B. are
    • C. has
    • D. have

  11. Q16. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: Two-thirds of the wheat crop ___ destroyed by the hailstorm last night.

    • A. have been
    • B. was
    • C. are
    • D. were

  12. Q17. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: Whenever the teacher ___ the room, the whole class falls silent.

    • A. will enter
    • B. entered
    • C. enters
    • D. is entering

  13. Q18. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: The more he studied the old manuscript, the less he ___ its meaning.

    • A. understand
    • B. understood
    • C. had understood
    • D. understands

  14. Q19. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: The editor ___ the manuscript when the telephone rang, so she lost her train of thought.

    • A. had revised
    • B. has revised
    • C. was revising
    • D. revised

  15. Q20. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: I ___ you the file as soon as I find it.

    • A. send
    • B. have sent
    • C. would send
    • D. will send

  16. Q21. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: Unless the rain ___ soon, the crops will wither.

    • A. will stop
    • B. would stop
    • C. stops
    • D. stopped

  17. Q22. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: This time next week, we ___ on a beach in Gwadar.

    • A. will have lain
    • B. have been lying
    • C. will be lying
    • D. would be lying

  18. Q23. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: Both the author and the illustrator ___ honoured at the ceremony tomorrow.

    • A. has
    • B. was
    • C. will be
    • D. is

  19. Q24. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: Little ___ he know that the letter had already been opened.

    • A. did
    • B. has
    • C. was
    • D. does

  20. Q25. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: I ___ the novel for a week now, but I have only reached chapter four.

    • A. have been reading
    • B. read
    • C. was reading
    • D. had read

  21. Q26. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: Had the guards been more alert, the thief ___.

    • A. did not escape
    • B. would not have escaped
    • C. had not escaped
    • D. would not escape

  22. Q27. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: The series of explosions that shook the old fort ___ heard for miles around.

    • A. were
    • B. have been
    • C. are
    • D. was

  23. Q28. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: The accountant checked the figures again after he ___ the first set of errors.

    • A. had discovered
    • B. has discovered
    • C. would discover
    • D. discovers

  24. Q29. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: Listen! Someone ___ the piano in the next room.

    • A. plays
    • B. is playing
    • C. has played
    • D. played

  25. Q30. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: Seldom ___ such a magnificent sunset from this terrace in all my years here.

    • A. did I saw
    • B. I had seen
    • C. have I seen
    • D. I have seen