TOEIC Link Part 6: choosing the verb tense from paragraph-wide time cues

In Part 5 a verb-tense question usually gives you the time signal inside the same sentence — a word like yesterday, since 2019, or next quarter that points straight at the answer. Part 6 removes that comfort. The sentence around the blank is often time-neutral, and the clue that fixes the tense sits in a different sentence of the same paragraph. If you read only the line with the blank, two or three tenses will all look grammatical. The passage decides which one is right. For the sentence-level version of this skill, see Part 5 verb tense and time-marker agreement; this guide extends it to the whole paragraph.

Why Part 6 hides the time cue outside the blank's sentence

A Part 6 passage is a short, connected text — a memo, a notice, an email. It has one internal timeline: something happened, something is happening now, something will happen. The test writers put a verb blank in a sentence that, on its own, could describe any of those moments, and they place the deciding time reference a sentence or two away. The question is really testing whether you track the passage's timeline, not whether you know how to conjugate a verb.

Our office will move to the new building on September 1. All staff __ their belongings before the movers arrive that morning. (A) pack (B) packed (C) should pack (D) had packed

The blank's own sentence has no time word. The clue is in the previous sentence: the move is in the future (will move ... on September 1), and the packing has to happen before that morning. So a present/future instruction fits — (C) should pack. A past tense like packed or had packed contradicts a move that has not happened yet.

Read the paragraph as one timeline before you choose

Do this in three quick steps whenever a Part 6 blank is a verb:

1. Find the anchor date or event. Scan the whole paragraph for the one concrete time reference — a date, last week, currently, as of next month, a completed action, a scheduled action. There is almost always exactly one.
2. Locate the blank relative to that anchor. Is the blank's action before, at the same time as, or after the anchor? That relationship, not the local sentence, sets the tense.
3. Check the surrounding verbs for consistency. Part 6 paragraphs keep a consistent tense frame. If every other verb in the paragraph is past, a lone present-perfect or future answer is usually wrong.

The most common paragraph-level tense traps

Trap 1 — the announcement that hasn't happened yet. The paragraph announces a future change (will launch, is scheduled to open), then a later sentence describes what people do about it. A past-tense answer feels natural to a hurried reader but breaks the timeline. Keep the answer present or future.

Trap 2 — the report of a completed action. A results memo opens with Last quarter, sales rose 12%. A blank three sentences down describes the same period. Even with no local time word, the anchor last quarter forces a past tense.

Trap 3 — the ongoing-state description. A notice about a current policy uses present simple throughout (the system requires, employees submit). A blank in that paragraph should stay present, even though a present-perfect option looks more "sophisticated." Match the frame.

Trap 4 — the since / for duration. When an earlier sentence establishes duration (The company has operated in Asia since 2015), a related blank often needs present perfect to carry that continuity. The duration marker may be one sentence away from the blank.

A worked example

To: All departments Re: Parking garage closure

The east parking garage closed for repairs on July 10. Since then, staff __ the temporary lot on Maple Street. Repairs are expected to finish by the end of this month, and normal parking will resume in August.

(A) use (B) used (C) have been using (D) will use

The anchor is closed ... on July 10 (past), reinforced by Since then. The blank describes an action that started at that past point and continues to now — that is exactly what present perfect continuous marks. The answer is (C) have been using. Will use contradicts Since then; simple past used drops the "still true now" sense that Since then demands. Notice that the deciding phrase, Since then, is the first words of the blank's sentence but points back to the previous sentence's date — you cannot resolve it without reading both.

How this shows up on test day

Part 6 gives you four blanks per passage, and the tense blank is usually the one people rush. Slow down for exactly two seconds: find the anchor, place the blank on the timeline, confirm the surrounding verbs agree. This is the same coherence discipline you use for the sentence-insertion item — read the passage as a connected whole, not four separate sentences. For the transition-word half of Part 6 coherence, pair this with connecting-word and transition selection in Part 6, and for the broader method see the Part 6 text-completion strategy overview.

Quick recap

• Part 6 verb blanks often have no time word in their own sentence — the clue is elsewhere in the paragraph.
• Find the one anchor time reference, place the blank before / during / after it, then confirm tense consistency with nearby verbs.
• Watch the four traps: future announcements, completed-action reports, ongoing-state present simple, and since / for durations that demand present perfect.
• Treat the paragraph as a single timeline, and the tense answer stops being a guess.