Grammar – She Waited for the Guests Until They ‘Have Arrived’ or ‘Had Arrived’?

grammar

She waited for the guests until they "have arrived" or "had arrived"

i feel like She waited for the guests until they have arrived is the correct answer

because the first action is her waiting for guests to arrive

and the second action is the arrival of guests

but my textbook says the correct answer is "had arrived"

correct me if i am wrong

thanks in advance

Best Answer

Neither of the versions in the question is very idiomatic. It's not wrong in terms of have versus had, but comparing those exact two sentences is quite unusual.

Instead, I would compare these two:

1. ✘ She waited until the guests have arrived.
2. ✔ She waited until the guests had arrived.

Between those two, it's the combination of waited and had that sounds best, because both are in a similar past tense. The first is not outright wrong, but it's unnatural to the point that it would never normally be used.

You could also simply drop the helper verb altogether:

✔ She waited until the guests arrived.

On the other hand, the reverse is the case if the tense of waited is changed to the present:

3. ✔ She waits until the guests have arrived.
4. ✘ She waits until the guests had arrived.

Or, as before, you can drop the helper verb—but doing so would mean also tweaking the final verb:

✔ She waits until the guests arrive.

Finally, a variation can be used if for is really to be used instead of until:

✔ She waited for the guests to arrive.
✔ She waits for the guests to arrive.

The infinitive can be used in both sentences, since it, itself, doesn't have a tense.

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