If there were/had been

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Bednar

#435596 Sat, 27 Oct 07 05:37 PM

Hello everyone,

In a test, I came accross this question:

14. Belville's serious drawback was its lack of a decent airport. If there __________ one within a 100 mile range, the city's beauty could easily have tipped the scales in its favor.

A/ would beB/ wereC/ had been D/ has been

In my opinion, both B and C are correct. What do you guys think?

Bednar

Joined on Sun, Jun 11 2006

New Member (03)

Tanit

#435614 Sat, 27 Oct 07 05:55 PM

You wrote it was a question from a test ... so I guess only C works (3^rd conditional).

If there had been ... the beauty could have tipped ...

Tanit

Joined on Mon, Jul 31 2006

In the middle of the Mediterranean Sea

Senior Member (2,141)

A man can do only what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day. (A. Schweitzer)

Conditionals

Lone Swordsman

#435619 Sat, 27 Oct 07 06:02 PM

I think it would be more grammatically correct to use "had been" istead of just "were" here because the sentence tells us about what could have happend in the past, but didn't happen.

Lone Swordsman

Joined on Fri, Jun 15 2007

New Member (32)

CalifJim

#435812 Sun, 28 Oct 07 06:51 AM

I wouldn't use were. The first sentence has was, a past tense. could have tipped also indicates the past. if there were is a hypothetical present, so it doesn't fit with the past tenses.

(Note that in hypothetical clauses, generally introduced by if, what is usually a past tense is treated as a hypothetical present, and what is usually a past perfect tense is treated as a hypothetical past.)

CJ

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (16,966)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Tenses, Clauses, Past perfect, Past tenses