Choose the correct tense. By the time Mike __ home, I __ dinner. had returned , have just cooked returned, cooked did return, was been cooking returned, had already cooked

The correct answer is: returned, had already cooked.<br /><br />Explanation: The sentence is describing two actions that happened in the past, with one action (cooking dinner) happening before the other action (Mike returning home). The past perfect tense (had already cooked) is used to indicate that the action of cooking dinner was completed before Mike returned home. The simple past tense (returned) is used to indicate that Mike's return happened after the action of cooking dinner.