Complete the 12 sentences below. Choose the best answer for each one. Some sentences have two correct answers. Choose both.
If the board ............... the warning signs, we would not be facing this lawsuit now.
Wrong!
Use the past perfect in the if-clause to express an unreal past condition with a present result.
It is high time the company ............... pretending the outage was a one-off and published the audit.
Wrong!
After it is high time, English uses a past form to criticise a present situation.
Suppose you ............... the merger talks, what would you do differently this time?
Wrong!
Suppose can take a past form to create a hypothetical situation in the present.
If only I ............... my mouth shut in the meeting, none of this would be on record.
Wrong!
If only + past perfect expresses regret about a past action with consequences now.
She talks as if she ............... the whole project single-handedly, but she joined last month.
Wrong!
As if uses a past perfect to show the claim is unreal about an earlier time.
Were it not for the emergency patch, the servers ............... down right now.
Wrong!
This inverted conditional needs would plus base verb for the present result.
Had we ............... the contract more carefully, we would not be renegotiating under pressure today.
Wrong!
Inverted conditionals about the past use had plus past participle.
I would rather you ............... the client directly, given how sensitive the complaint is.
Wrong!
Would rather is followed by a past form to express a preferred but unreal present action.
But for his intervention, the negotiations ............... by now.
Wrong!
But for introduces an unreal condition, so use would have plus past participle for a past result.
If she ............... to the press, she would have been fired on the spot.
Wrong!
Use the past perfect to describe an unreal past action in the if-clause.
He behaves as though he ............... the CEO, which is awkward in front of the actual CEO.
Wrong!
As though can use a past form to show an unreal present situation; in formal English, were is preferred with all subjects.
If I ............... you, I would not sign anything until legal has reviewed the clause.
Wrong!
In this fixed hypothetical, were is standard in formal English; was is common in speech but not used here.
Done.
Score: 0/12
Answers
- If the board had heeded the warning signs, we would not be facing this lawsuit now.
- It is high time the company stopped pretending the outage was a one-off and published the audit.
- Suppose you were leading the merger talks, what would you do differently this time?
- If only I had kept my mouth shut in the meeting, none of this would be on record.
- She talks as if she had run the whole project single-handedly, but she joined last month.
- Were it not for the emergency patch, the servers would be down right now.
- Had we read the contract more carefully, we would not be renegotiating under pressure today.
- I would rather you did not contact the client directly, given how sensitive the complaint is.
- But for his intervention, the negotiations would have collapsed by now.
- If she had spoken to the press, she would have been fired on the spot.
- He behaves as though he were the CEO, which is awkward in front of the actual CEO.
- If I were you, I would not sign anything until legal has reviewed the clause.
