Why had and not has?

[Samuel Shott]

English Language Proficiency Tests, Advanced Level

ESL/EFL Test #117 "Past Tenses", question 4

I wonder what ......... happened while I was away.

(a) will have
(b) has
(c) was
(d) had

English Language Proficiency Tests, Advanced Level

ESL/EFL Test #117 "Past Tenses", answer 4

I wonder what had happened while I was away.

Correct answer: (d) had

Your answer was: incorrect
I wonder what has happened while I was away.
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why had and not has?
Samuel Shott

[Alan]

Hi,

Good question. I was thinking of something that had happened in the past.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story A day in the life of a flat hunter

[adrian]

So it should be "wondered" - although US English is now starting to use past perfect on its own to refer to distant past events. Very confusing.

[Andreana]

Hi Adrian, I wonder is perfectly correct here. Why makes you think it should be wondered? Maybe you are confusing it with the simple past - past perfect construction that is used in sentences like these:

Before I joined IBM I had worked for Siemens.

Alan's sentence refers to a different situation though. He is describing something that happens in the present (I wonder).
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A smile will open doors

[Oliver]

I disagree. You cannot wonder now what had happened, only what has: "I wonder [now] what has happened [before now]. I wondered [then] what had happened [before then]." You cannot wonder now what has happened before an event in the past that is not mentioned.[/i]