When

When he ----, we ---- a meeting.

A) arrives / have had
B) has arrived / are having
C) arrives / will be having
D) had arrived / had
E) was arriving / had

Diamondrg wrote:

what about b?

Hello Teo

The present or past perfect in a when-clause is fine, e.g.

1. When he has finished sweeping the floor, tell him to clean the windows.

2. When she had eaten all the oysters, he took her upstairs.

MrP

Hello Anon

A) When he arrives, we have had a meeting.] This is grammatical, if the context is the present-tense reporting of an action as it happens.

B) When he has arrived, we are having a meeting] I can't find a context in which this would be grammatical.

C) When he arrives, we will be having a meeting.] Fine.

D) When he had arrived, we had a meeting.] This may sound a little odd, with no further context; but I don't think we could call it ungrammatical. If you google on "when he had arrived", you find plenty of literary examples of the same structure.

E) When he was arriving, we had a meeting. ] This seems ok, too, though perhaps a little unusual: the meeting coincided with the time of his arrival.

MrP