Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option:
Tom has just left for San Francisco. By six o'clock tomorrow he ____________ New York.

• A. will have reached
• B. will reach
• C. reaches
• D. has reached

Answer 1

The correct option is A will have reached

Options A and B: 'Will have reached' and 'will reach' are in the future perfect and simple future tense, respectively.

We use the future perfect when the action is completed 'by' a certain point of time in the future.

We use the simple future when the action will take place 'at' a certain point of time in future.

Hence we determine the tense with the help of the words 'by' and 'at'. Since the given sentence has 'by', we're given a hint about the correct tense: the action here will be completed "by 6 o'clock tomorrow", so it's in the future perfect tense 'will have reached'.

Hence A is correct and B is incorrect.

Option C: 'Reaches' is a simple present verb and refers to a daily routine, and does not apply to the future 'tomorrow'. Hence this option is wrong.

Option D: 'Has reached' expresses the present perfect tense (the action has just been completed) whereas the action here will happen in the future 'tomorrow'. Hence this option is wrong.