Question

Read the paragraph.

After the final battle, rumor had it that a few renegades had slipped off into the forest to avoid capture. These sneaky rogues have continually eluded capture. The leaders of the empire are worried that the rebels will form a resistance movement first.

Which sentence would be the best addition to the end of the paragraph?

Then the rebels will overcome the empire’s troops and take the city.
Then the rebels overcome the empire’s troops and take the city.
Then the rebels have overcome the empire’s troops and take the city.

Answer 1

"Then the rebels will overcome the empire’s troops and take the city."

Reason: It matches the paragraph’s present/future worry ("are worried… will form") and clearly expresses the feared future consequence. The second uses a simple present awkwardly here, and the third mixes tenses and is ungrammatical.