Fill in the blank with the correct tense: They ____ their objections by the time the committee convened.

Correct — D. The trigger is by the time followed by a past-tense clause, the committee convened.

That fixes a point in the past. An action already finished before that point takes the past perfect: had + past participle.

They had raised their objections by the time the committee convened → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  raised — Raised, the simple past, states the action but not that it was complete before the committee met. By the time + a past clause asks for that, which had raised gives.
• (b)
  have raised — Have raised is present perfect, which links an action to now. The time marker, by the time the committee convened, points to a finished past moment, and the present perfect cannot sit with that.
• (c)
  will raise — Will raise is future. It clashes with the past-tense convened: the whole sentence is set in the past.

The past perfect (had + past participle) marks the earlier of two past events. It is needed when a sentence stresses that one action was complete before another past moment.

By the time is a strong signal. With a past verb after it, the main clause takes the past perfect: By the time we arrived, the train had left.

With a present verb after it, the main clause takes the future perfect: By the time you arrive, the train will have left.

Key facts

• By the time + simple past (convened) → main clause in the past perfect (had raised).
• By the time + simple present → main clause in the future perfect (will have left).
• The present perfect (have raised) is not used with a finished past time reference.

Common traps

• Choosing the simple past raised because the sentence is about the past, without noticing by the time
• Choosing have raised because a perfect tense feels right, without making it past

No directly related past PYQ was found.