[Grammar] but not before rebels ________ fire to part of the building

[john2021]

Rebels attacked the national TV station yesterday. Government forces soon had the situation under control, but not before rebels ________ fire to part of the building, which is still on fire now .
a) Have set
b) Had set
c ) Set

i know that one of the usages of the present perfect tense is when something is still happening until the present moment
the past perfect tense when 2 actions happened in the past , one before the other
in this text i see both work
which one is correct ?
thank you in advance

 

[tedmc]

b and c are acceptable but I prefer c (simple past tense). There is no need to use the past perfect when it is clear which action came first.

 

[emsr2d2]

Rebels attacked the national TV station yesterday. Government forces soon had the situation under control, but not before rebels ________ fire to part of the building, which is still on fire now.

a) have set
b) had set
c ) set

I know that one of the usages of the present perfect tense is when something is still happening [STRIKE]until[/STRIKE] at the present moment. The past perfect tense is used when [STRIKE]2[/STRIKE] two actions happened in the past, one before the other. In this text, I see that both work.
Which one is correct?

[STRIKE]Thank you in advance. [/STRIKE] Unnecessary. Thank us after we help you, by clicking on the "Thank" button.

Welcome to the forum. :hi:

Please note my corrections above.

It's important to follow these rules of written English at all time:

- Start every sentence with a capital letter.
- End every sentence with one appropriate punctuation mark.
- Always capitalise the word "I" (first person singular pronoun).
- Do not put a space before a comma, full stop, question mark or exclamation mark.

Use b, the past perfect. It's clear that the rebels set fire to part of the building before the Government forces regained control. The building is still on fire at the present moment, but the rebels are not still setting fire to it.

Where did you find that exercise? You must provide the source and author whenever you quote text you did not write yourself.

 

[Tdol]

I'd use b), but I think c) is OK.

 

[Tarheel]

The way I always do these fill in the blanks things is I decide what I would put in the blank, and then I look to see if it's on the list.

 

[Tdol]

If they're only looking for b), the question is flawed.

 

[Skrej]

B would be my first choice as well, although C wouldn't bother me.

 

[jutfrank]

Answer c) is a perfectly appropriate and correct answer.

However, b) is the answer that the person who wrote the test wants you to choose. That means that the sentence was either specially written or specially selected as an exemplary context for the use of the past perfect.

Answer a) is wrong.

 

[5jj]

However, b) is the answer that the person who wrote the test wants you to choose.

If that person does not accept (c), then they are being unfair and unreasonable.

 

[SoothingDave]

I'm probably more likely to say c than b, but both are OK.

 

[jutfrank]

If that person does not accept (c), then they are being unfair and unreasonable.

Agreed.

 

[emsr2d2]

John2021, you still haven't provided the source and author of that exercise. This is a legal requirement.

 

[jutfrank]

And John2021—please tell us what the task instruction was. How do we know that you're not meant to choose the answer that is not possible? For all we know, the 'correct' answer may be a), depending on what you're supposed to do.