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If the year-end net profit had been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments must be kept on hold.

A. had been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments must Incorrect

hypothetical situation - 'had been' and 'must' use wrong

B. was below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments should Incorrect

'was' and ' should' use wrong

C. was below 5%, the board of directors would recommend that all further investments Incorrect

same as B

D. were below 5%, the board of directors would recommend that all further investments Correct

no issue

E. would have been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments would Incorrect

'would' uses wrong
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A. had been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments must
--> "recommend" requires subjunctive and bare form of "be"

B. was below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments should
--> "was" is not appropriate for conditions

C. was below 5%, the board of directors would recommend that all further investments
--> Here "if" represents the hypothetical situation hence this makes it subjunctive

D. were below 5%, the board of directors would recommend that all further investments
--> Correct. Subjunctive usage with "were". Now "recommend" involves another subjunctive hence "must" is not required after "investments"

E. would have been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments would
--> the sentence uses multiple "would" recommending a hypothetical scenario.

IMHO Option D
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A. had been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments must.OUT

B. was below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments shouldout

C. was below 5%, the board of directors would recommend that all further investments OUT

D. were below 5%, the board of directors would recommend that all further investments CORRECT

E. would have been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments would OUT

OA:D
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As per GMAT SC rules, never use "was" after "if" or "wish", instead use "were". Hence, B and C are wrong.
As per GMAT SC rules, never use "would" in "if" clause. Hence, E is wrong.
"recommend" and "must" are redundant. Hence, A is wrong.
Choice D perfectly fits the if..then construction and the subjunctive mood. Hence, D is right.
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A. had been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments must
would have recommended that all further investments must, this is not idiomatic, it should be recomended that be kept, Wrong answer
B. was below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments should
the construction is not correct, If+simple past + conditional ( usually Would...) Wrong answer
C. was below 5%, the board of directors would recommend that all further investments
in cond type two where the sentence refers to hypothetical or unlikely situation in the present or future, always it should be "were" rather than was, indepandently of the pronoun, Wrong answer
then it's the correct answer[/u]
D. were below 5%, the board of directors would recommend that all further investments
This sentences refers to hypothetical or unlikely situation in the present plus [u]This is the correct answer, This sentence refers to hypothetical situation in the past and Here, the “if clause” uses the past tense and the main clause uses the conditional perfect tense with ' would " ,plus the end of the sentence ( recommand that X be Y) is idiomatic
E. would have been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments would
would have recommended that all further investments would, this is not idiomatic, it should be recomended that be kept, Wrong answer
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As the sentence talks about a hypothetical scenario, the use of "would" is correct.
Answer choice E correctly uses this to explain a situation that has not happened but had the possibility of happening.
Hence correct answer choice is (E).
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If the year-end net profit had been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments must be kept on hold.

Clearly, the sentence depicts 'subjunctive mood'. eg, If M were the king, je he would order that the palace be constructed.

A. had been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments must

Usage of past perfect tense not required..since it is used for two events, one earlier than the other

B. was below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments should

was needs to be replaced with were to depict the subjunctive mood

C. was below 5%, the board of directors would recommend that all further investments

was needs to be replaced with were to depict the subjunctive mood

D. were below 5%, the board of directors would recommend that all further investments

Correct structure to depict the subjunctive mood

E. would have been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments would

Incorrect subjunctive mood structure

(D) is the correct option
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If the year-end net profit had been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments must be kept on hold.


here simple logic has to be followed -

If + [verb in simple past] = hypothesis

This is correctly used here -

B. was below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments should

Ans: Option B
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A. had been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments must --correct

B. was below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments should --for uncertain event we use past perfect

C. was below 5%, the board of directors would recommend that all further investments --incorrect usage of would

D. were below 5%, the board of directors would recommend that all further investments -- were is incorrect

E. would have been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments would --incorrect usage of would

correct answer choice A
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Bunuel
If the year-end net profit had been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments must be kept on hold.

A. had been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments must

B. was below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments should

C. was below 5%, the board of directors would recommend that all further investments

D. were below 5%, the board of directors would recommend that all further investments

E. would have been below 5%, the board of directors would have recommended that all further investments would

 


This question was provided by GMAT Club
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Thank you sayantanc2k for the question!!!
We need to decide whether use of had been (past perfect) or was (simple past) is needed. Here sequence of events is established so was is sufficient

A: ELIMINATE because of use of had been when was is required
B: CORRECT answer, also because it uses should instead of must and should is for recommendations
C: incomplete
D: Incorrect subject-verb. Profit and were
E: Incorrect usage of tenses and very unnecessary wording

ANswer - B
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bb Bunuel

I am sure the moderators must have missed out on giving a kudos to my post that explains the correct answer. Request your assistance here. Thanks.

Posted from my mobile device
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bb Bunuel

I am sure the moderators must have missed out on giving a kudos to my post that explains the correct answer. Request your assistance here. Thanks.

Posted from my mobile device

Thanks bb
I hope you'll add the points for this kudos to my competition score as well. They are yet not there. Cheers!!
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bb Bunuel

I am sure the moderators must have missed out on giving a kudos to my post that explains the correct answer. Request your assistance here. Thanks.

Posted from my mobile device

Thanks bb
I hope you'll add the points for this kudos to my competition score as well. They are yet not there. Cheers!!

They will update tomorrow. Thx.
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