CELSA - Combined English Language Skills Assessment Verb Tense and Form Questions and Answers 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: By the time the project manager arrives, the team __________ the initial phase of the software development.
- will complete
- will have completed (Correct answer)
- is completing
- completes
Correct answer: will have completed
The future perfect tense ('will have completed') is used to describe an action that will be finished before another future action or a specific time in the future. In this sentence, the completion of the initial phase happens before the manager's arrival.
Question 2: A client called to complain about a product he _______ the previous week. Which of the following verb forms correctly completes the sentence?
- has purchased
- purchased
- had purchased (Correct answer)
- will purchase
Correct answer: had purchased
The past perfect tense ('had purchased') is correct because it indicates an action that was completed before another action in the past (the client calling). The purchase happened before the complaint.
Question 3: If the marketing team had secured a larger budget, they __________ a more extensive advertising campaign.
- would have launched (Correct answer)
- will launch
- would launch
- launched
Correct answer: would have launched
This sentence is a third conditional, which describes a hypothetical situation in the past that did not happen. The correct structure is 'If + past perfect, ... would have + past participle'.
Question 4: The security guard noticed that the visitor __________ nervously in the lobby for over an hour before his appointment.
- waits
- has been waiting
- is waiting
- had been waiting (Correct answer)
Correct answer: had been waiting
The past perfect continuous tense ('had been waiting') is used to emphasize the duration of an activity that was in progress before another past event occurred (the security guard noticing).
Question 5: Which of the following sentences uses the present perfect continuous tense correctly?
- She is learning Spanish for two years.
- They have been renovating the office since last month. (Correct answer)
- He had been working on the report all day yesterday.
- We will have been living here for a decade next May.
Correct answer: They have been renovating the office since last month.
The present perfect continuous tense ('have/has been + verb-ing') is used for an action that started in the past and is still ongoing. 'They have been renovating... since last month' correctly depicts an action that began in the past and continues into the present.
Question 6: The new regulations require that every employee __________ the mandatory safety training by the end of the month.
- completes
- to complete
- complete (Correct answer)
- completed
Correct answer: complete
This sentence uses the subjunctive mood, which is often used after verbs of command, demand, or recommendation (like 'require'). In the subjunctive, the base form of the verb ('complete') is used, regardless of the subject.
CELSA - Combined English Language Skills Assessment Verb Tense and Form Questions and Answers 1
By the time the project manager arrives, the team __________ the initial phase of the software development.