When I went back to my home town three years ago, I found that a lot of changes ____.
(A) are taken place
(B) were taken place
(C) have taken place
(D) had taken place
I answered it as B. but in the book the correct answer was D. please explain by giving examples.
The correct answer to the question is (D) "had taken place."
In this sentence, we are referring to an event or series of events that occurred before the time of going back to the hometown three years ago. The use of the past perfect tense "had taken place" indicates that the changes took place before the specific time of going back to the hometown.
Let's consider some examples to understand this better:
1. "When I went back to my home town three years ago, I found that a lot of changes had taken place."
In this example, the speaker is talking about a visit to their home town three years ago. When they arrived, they noticed that many changes had already occurred in the town before their visit. These changes happened in the past, prior to their visit.
2. "Last month, I visited my old school and realized that a lot of changes have taken place."
In this example, the speaker is talking about a recent visit to their old school. They noticed that changes have occurred in the school between the time they left and the present (last month). Since the visit is recent, the present perfect tense "have taken place" is used.
In summary, the correct answer is (D) "had taken place" because the changes happened before the specific time of going back to the hometown three years ago.
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastperfect.html
It's a part of the sequence of tenses. Because the changes took place before the main verb ("went"), past perfect ("had taken place") is needed.