Which word should replace the underlined word? “By the time the bus arrived, most of the students had already [went] home.”
Use Standard Grammar, Usage, and Spelling to Edit · TELPAS Grades 10–12 writing. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
Reporting category 2: find and fix an error in a short text. On the real test some of these are typed answers or sentence rewrites. Here they are multiple choice so they can be checked.
The question
Choose the best answer.
Read the sentence. The underlined word has an error. By the time the bus arrived, most of the students had already [went] home. Which word should replace the underlined word?
- go
- goneCorrect answer
- going
- goes
Why “gone” is correct
This tests the past perfect with an irregular verb. After 'had', English uses the past participle. For 'go', the past is 'went' but the past participle is 'gone', so 'had gone' is correct.
Why the other answers are wrong
- go — 'Go' is the base form and cannot follow 'had'.
- going — 'Had going' is not a correct verb form.
- goes — 'Goes' is present tense and cannot follow 'had'.
Practice more of this
More writing practice for Grades 10–12, or see the TELPAS practice test for 10th–12th grade.
This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Texas Education Agency or the official TELPAS program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published test design.