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alcalina
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Had Mr. Michaels taken the earlier train, he could have avoided Updated on: 16 Aug 2017, 09:21
Originally posted by alcalina on 15 Aug 2017, 09:39.
Last edited by alcalina on 16 Aug 2017, 09:21, edited 1 time in total.
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

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5% (low)

Question Stats:

88% (00:39) correct 12% (00:56) wrong based on 129 sessions

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Had Mr. Michaels taken the earlier train, he could have avoided the lengthy delay due to the severe storm that flooded the crossing.
a) taken the earlier train, he could have avoided
b) took the earlier train, he could had avoided
c) had took the earlier train, he could have avoided
d) taken the earlier train, he could have to avoid
e) taken the earlier train, he could had avoided


question from the gmat ultiamte grammar first edition book page 135

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I choose the E but I do not understand what is wrong.
The correct response is A
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A
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Had Mr. Michaels taken the earlier train, he could have avoided 15 Aug 2017, 10:07
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alcalina
Had Mr. Michaels taken the earlier train, he could have avoided the lengthy delay due to the severe storm that flooded the crossing.
a) taken the earlier train, he could have avoided
b) took the earlier train, he could had avoided
c) had took the earlier train, he could have avoided
d) taken the earlier train, he could have to avoid
e) taken the earlier train, he could had avoided


question from the gmat ultiamte grammar first edition book page 135

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I choose the E but I do not understand what is wrong.
The correct response is A
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Could you please underline the sentence correction part as it would be convenient to resolve the question faster :)
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Had Mr. Michaels taken the earlier train, he could have avoided 15 Aug 2017, 22:35
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alcalina
Had Mr. Michaels taken the earlier train, he could have avoided the lengthy delay due to the severe storm that flooded the crossing.
a) taken the earlier train, he could have avoided
b) took the earlier train, he could had avoided
c) had took the earlier train, he could have avoided
d) taken the earlier train, he could have to avoid
e) taken the earlier train, he could had avoided
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I think the underlined part is as follows.

Had Mr. Michaels taken the earlier train, he could have avoided the lengthy delay due to the severe storm that flooded the crossing.

a) taken the earlier train, he could have avoided -------- (Correct)
b) took the earlier train, he could had avoided --------- (Incorrect)
c) had took the earlier train, he could have avoided --------- (Incorrect)
d) taken the earlier train, he could have to avoid ---------- (Incorrect)
e) taken the earlier train, he could had avoided ----------- (Incorrect)

Answer (A)...
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Had Mr. Michaels taken the earlier train, he could have avoided 16 Aug 2017, 09:24
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thanks for the answer. I corrected the exercise.

What do I need to study to understand why E is wrong? I didn't understand why I can't use "could had" in the sentence.
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Had Mr. Michaels taken the earlier train, he could have avoided 17 Aug 2017, 23:13
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alcalina
thanks for the answer. I corrected the exercise.

What do I need to study to understand why E is wrong? I didn't understand why I can't use "could had" in the sentence.
Show more

Hi alcalina,
As per my reasoning - In the above sentence, there are two actions taking place in past at different times.

"If two actions in a sentence occurred at different times in the past, use the past perfect tense for the earlier action and simple past tense for the later action."

Hope its clear now.
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Had Mr. Michaels taken the earlier train, he could have avoided 18 Aug 2017, 00:38
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Imo A
This is a conditional sentence
It describes a hypothetical situation in the past .
So correct structure is Past perfect + conditional


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Had Mr. Michaels taken the earlier train, he could have avoided 20 Aug 2017, 23:01
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Had Mr. Michaels taken the earlier train, he could have avoided the lengthy delay due to the severe storm that flooded the crossing.

If 2 actions are taking place in the past, the earlier action has to be past perfect and then the action is showing something that was possible but, which did not happened.

a) taken the earlier train, he could have avoided
As discussed above.
b) took the earlier train, he could had avoided
Had taken is past perfect
c) had took the earlier train, he could have avoided
We can't use 2 had, had taken is past perfect
d) taken the earlier train, he could have to avoid
could have avoided is correct.
e) taken the earlier train, he could had avoided
could have avoided is correct.
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Had Mr. Michaels taken the earlier train, he could have avoided 05 Jul 2021, 09:01
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