Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was

59. Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.
(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
wrong usage of contional sentence -"was" is wrongly used; change of meaning via "insecure"
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure CORRECT -OA!
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
wrong usage of contional sentence; "was not ever"?? -out!
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
"that" is ambiguous; badly constructed
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it
inverted; does not tally well with ununderlined section;wrong usage of contional sentence

Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it

GMATNinja, can you please help with the explanation?

(A) Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

(B) Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure.

(C) Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it.

(D) Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria.

(E) Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it.

Guys, this question was asked a few times.
It is an excellent question to learn from.
Please take time to explain thoroughly.
Thanks!

59. Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.
(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it

bmw, thanks for bringing the question back!
OA is B

Lets see B:
Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure

Oranges agree with each other
Blues agree with each other

beckee, the above is slightly different to what you stated; you may wish to revisit or show that I am bullsh*tting

For analysis of other choice, see below:

Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it

Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure tense problem
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure tense is correct and conditional tense is used
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it tense problem
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria that cannot be used in the place of a pronoun/antecedent
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it

The word "that" is used to refer to a concept--in this case, it feels like it would actually refer to "strategic proximity".

"I love him." That is what I said. That refers to the phrase. I can't say for sure that it is ALWAYS this way, but generally that replaces a phrase or a concept, not an object.

Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century becuase they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

a) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
b) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure
c) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
d) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
e) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it.


Meaning: reason for why was morocco important to french

Error analysis: C1- Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century
C2- becuase they assumed
C3 that if they did not hold it,
C4-their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

SV: No error:
V: Conditional tense rule violated as if <past> , then <would> is correct usage and not if <past> , then <was> is not correct usage
Pronoun: correct : they / thier logially and unambigously refer to french and it logicaly refers to morocco
Parallelism: Not tested and hence no error
Meaning: No error
Modifier: No error
Idioms: Not tested and hence no error
Others: None

POE:
a) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
Faulty as pointed above

b) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure

Although would is used correctly but in the if, then construction 'if' is not used. From the theory taught in the verb conditional concept
i have learned that then may be ommited but if should always be present. Can you please explain then why B is correct though 'if' is ommited

c) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it

Conditional error as in A pronoun reference error as well- 'it' can refer to both algeria and morrocco

d) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria

pronoun error- that can not be used in place of it to refer to morrocco

Conditional errror: Assumption, so would need to be used in place of could

e) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it.

Pronoun error as 'it' can refer to both algeria and morrocco.
I could not find any other error in this choice


Can you please share your view on the analysis posted above. Also please explain why the usage of if , then construction is correct in B though 'if' is missing

PS:i understand that 'would can be used without a condition but here as there is a condition so i expect that whole if, then framework must be used (ofcourse then can be ommited but not if as mentioned in the concept file of verb conditional)


Thanks in advance
Rahul Vijay

Following "then", the auxiliary verb has to be would/could. Only answer D fixes the problem without introducing new ones.

Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it