By the time the company _____ its new headquarters next year, the metropolitan area will have undergone significant transformation, with...

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 the company [?] its new headquarters next year,
  • the metropolitan area will have undergone significant transformation,
    • with property values in the surrounding neighborhoods
      • projected to increase by over forty percent.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

'By the time the company _____ its new headquarters next year,'

This is where we have the blank. Let's look at the choices - they give us different verb tenses: occupied (past), will occupy (future), is occupying (present continuous), and occupies (present simple).

To see what works here, let's read the rest of the sentence and understand what it's saying!

The sentence continues:

• 'the metropolitan area will have undergone significant transformation'
  • This is telling us that by some future point in time, the transformation will be complete
  • 'Will have undergone' is a future perfect tense - something that will be completed by a certain future moment

• 'with property values in the surrounding neighborhoods projected to increase by over forty percent'
  • This gives us more detail about the transformation - specifically about property values going up significantly

So the complete picture is:

• By the time the company moves into (occupies) its new headquarters next year,
• The area will have already undergone major changes,
• Including property values increasing by over 40%.

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We have a time clause that sets up a future reference point:
  • 'By the time the company _____ its new headquarters next year'

• And we have a main clause about what will happen by that point:
  • 'the metropolitan area will have undergone significant transformation'

Here's the key pattern: Even though 'next year' tells us we're talking about the future, when we have a time clause that starts with 'by the time' (or similar phrases like 'when,' 'after,' 'before') and the main clause uses future or future perfect tense, we use simple present tense in the time clause.

So we need occupies - the simple present form.

The correct answer is D. occupies.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Verb Tense in Time Clauses with Future Reference

When you have a time clause (introduced by phrases like 'by the time,' 'when,' 'after,' or 'before') that refers to a future event, and your main clause uses future or future perfect tense, you use simple present tense in the time clause - NOT future tense. This is called the 'present for future in time clauses' rule.

Pattern:

• Time clause (referring to future): by the time + subject + simple present verb
• Main clause: subject + future or future perfect verb

Examples:

1. Time clause with 'when':
   • ✓ 'When she arrives tomorrow, we will have finished the project.'
   • ✗ 'When she will arrive tomorrow, we will have finished the project.'

2. Time clause with 'after':
   • ✓ 'After the train leaves at 6 PM, the station will close.'
   • ✗ 'After the train will leave at 6 PM, the station will close.'

3. Our sentence:
   • ✓ 'By the time the company occupies its new headquarters next year, the metropolitan area will have undergone significant transformation.'
   • ✗ 'By the time the company will occupy its new headquarters next year, the metropolitan area will have undergone significant transformation.'

Why this matters: Even though 'next year' clearly indicates future time, the grammatical rule requires simple present tense in the time clause. This is a consistent pattern in English that applies to all time clauses with future reference.