Complete the sentence with the correct form of the verb in brackets: By the time the storm reached the village, the rescue team ___ (move) the boats above the high-water line.
Richtige Antwort
had moved
Erklärung
"By the time" establishes the storm's arrival as a later past reference point and says the move was already complete then. The past simple "moved" would report another past event without explicitly presenting its completion from that later viewpoint.