Standard English Primary 6 Grammar

By the time the firemen arrived at the scene, the brave neighbors ________ the fire using buckets of water.

A have extinguished
B were extinguishing
C had extinguished
D extinguished
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Worked Solution

Step 1: Identify that there are two past actions: neighbors putting out the fire and firemen arriving. Step 2: Observe the phrase 'By the time', which indicates one action happened before another in the past. Step 3: Use the Past Perfect tense (had + past participle) for the earlier action. Neighbors put out the fire first, so 'had extinguished' is correct.

Correct answer: had extinguished

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