By the time Hawaiian king Kamehameha III ________ the throne, the number of longhorn cattle, first introduced to the islands...

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

• By the time Hawaiian king Kamehameha III [?] the throne,
• the number of longhorn cattle,
  • first introduced to the islands in 1793,
• had drastically increased,
• and so too had the need for paniolo (Hawaiian cowboys)
  • to manage the wild herds
    • that then roamed throughout the volcanic terrain.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

'By the time Hawaiian king Kamehameha III ______ the throne'

This is where we have the blank. Let's look at the choices:

• ascended (past tense)
• will ascend (future tense)
• ascends (present tense)
• is ascending (present progressive)

So we're deciding what verb tense to use. To see what works here, let's read the rest of the sentence and understand what it's saying!

The sentence continues:
"the number of longhorn cattle, first introduced to the islands in 1793, had drastically increased"

Let me break this down:

• 'the number of longhorn cattle' - we're talking about how many cattle there were
• 'first introduced to the islands in 1793' - this is background info telling us when the cattle first came to Hawaii
• 'had drastically increased' - by some point in time, the cattle population had grown a lot

And the sentence continues:
"and so too had the need for paniolo (Hawaiian cowboys) to manage the wild herds that then roamed throughout the volcanic terrain"

This is saying:

• Just like the cattle number had increased, the need for cowboys had also increased
• 'that then roamed throughout the volcanic terrain' - describing these wild herds of cattle wandering around the volcanic landscape

Now, what do we notice about the verb structure here?

• The main action of the sentence uses 'had increased' and 'had the need'
  • This is past perfect tense - it tells us something was already complete before another point in the past
• We also see 'then roamed' (simple past) which confirms we're talking about past events
• The phrase 'By the time' sets up a sequence:
  • It's saying: when this one thing happened, this other thing had already happened
• So the structure is: 'By the time [something happened], [something else] had already increased'

The 'By the time' clause needs simple past tense to show the reference point, while the main clause uses past perfect to show what was already complete by that reference point.

So we need: ascended (simple past)

The sentence is saying: By the time King Kamehameha III ascended to the throne, the cattle population had already grown dramatically (and so had the need for cowboys to manage them).

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Sequencing Past Events: Using "By the time" with Simple Past and Past Perfect

When you're describing a sequence of past events where one action was already complete before another past action occurred, you use this structure:

Pattern: "By the time [simple past], [past perfect]"

• The "by the time" clause: Uses simple past tense - this is your reference point in time
• The main clause: Uses past perfect (had + past participle) - this shows what was already complete by that reference point

Examples:

1. By the time we arrived (simple past), the movie had already started (past perfect)
   • Reference point: we arrived
   • Already complete by then: the movie started
2. By the time the firefighters reached the building (simple past), the fire had spread (past perfect) to three floors
   • Reference point: firefighters reached
   • Already complete by then: the fire spread
3. In our question: By the time Kamehameha III ascended (simple past) the throne, the cattle population had increased (past perfect)
   • Reference point: king ascended to throne
   • Already complete by then: cattle population grew

Why this pattern works: The past perfect "had + past participle" specifically means "this was already done before another past event." The simple past in the "by the time" clause provides that other past event - the reference point that helps us understand when the first action was complete.