Has finished vs. had finished

[othman]

Test No. incompl/inter-90 "Tenses", question 4

After the storm ......... finished, many people were found lying in the street.

(a) has
(b) had
(c) were
(d) did

Test No. incompl/inter-90 "Tenses", answer 4

After the storm had finished, many people were found lying in the street.

Correct answer: (b) had

Your answer was: incorrect
After the storm has finished, many people were found lying in the street.
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After the storm has finished, many people were found lying in the street.

Why is had correct and not has? Thank you very much in advance.

othman

[Alan]

There are two times here one describes the finding of the people and the other is the finishing of the storm. The earlier one is in the PAST SIMPLE and the second one. the later time is in the PAST PERFECT. In other words they found the people but this was after the end of the storm.
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[othman]

OK thank you now I understand

[Lilpucal0v3r]

i dont quite get it. would you care to elaborate alan?

[Lost_Soul]

Hi,

The first action was "the storm finished" and the second - "many people were found lying".
To emphasize the fact that "the storm finished" happened before "many people were found lying", Alan used the past perfect tense.

He might've made do with only the past simple, because using after is enough to understand what happened first

[Alan]

Excellent exposition.

Alan
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