If a latter-day Robinson Crusoe was marooned on an island with an ecle

C it is
If Were CONSTRUCTION
Parallelism

CAN ANY ONE PLEASE EXPLAIN ME THE "IF ... WERE CONSTRUCTION"

heres an explanation.

https://englishplus.com/grammar/00000031.htm

Pretty straightforward! C! hypothetical subjunctive mood in this sentence..IF Robinson Crusoe WAS is incorrect. For IF..Then type sentences with a conditional structure..WERE should always be used..C is perfect with parallelism ..eat relax buff

oh, this has been discussed before , but my doubt still remains, i want to know the difference between the usage of would and could. doesn't would sound better here with the right option ?

looking at the future from the past , that's the rule for the usage of would .

Can anybody explain why "and" is not needed before "relax"?

because relax is not the last word in the parallel construction. the sentence continues after the underlined portion with "watch" and the last parallel work. look at sesamemochi's post.

All the bold words refer to the "latter-day Robinson Crusoe" itself. And all of them are in the same form and parallel to each other. However, in Option D, the words "eat" and "relaxing" are not parallel, and change the structure of the sentence. Hence D is incorrect.

Hope that helps.

If a latter-day Robinson Crusoe was marooned on an island with an eclectic mix of palms, he could eat dates and coconut meat, relax in a palm recliner in his palm-post bungalow under a palm-thatch roof, buff his palm-plank surfboard with carnauba palm wax and watch a palm-fringed sunset.

It is assumption that is not possible in reality or has not happened in reality.
Ex-
I could fly if I were a bird.

So, remove 'Was' containing options.
A, B, E out.


(A) If a latter-day Robinson Crusoe was marooned on an island with an eclectic mix of palms, he could eat dates and coconut meat, relax in a palm recliner in his palm-post bungalow under a palm-thatch roof,
(B) If a latter-day Robinson Crusoe was marooned on an island with an eclectic mix of palms, he could eat dates and coconut meat, relaxing in a palm recliner in his palm-post bungalow under a palm-thatch roof,
(C) If a latter-day Robinson Crusoe were marooned on an island with an eclectic mix of palms, he could eat dates and coconut meat, relax in a palm recliner in his palm-post bungalow under a palm-thatch roof,
Correct. precise.
(D) If a latter-day Robinson Crusoe were marooned on an island with an eclectic mix of palms, he could eat dates and coconut meat, relaxing in a palm recliner in his palm-post bungalow under a palm-thatch roof,
Comparison issue in the sentence.
(E) If a latter-day Robinson Crusoe was marooned on an island with an eclectic mix of palms, he could eat dates and coconut meat, to relax in a palm recliner in his palm-post bungalow under a palm-thatch roof,

Had Messed up a similar question last time , but not this time.

If ( wish ) comes with with a verb "were " - hence between close options A and C , I went with C.

* Kudos pls if you understood the logic*

Hi Folks,
Whenever an hypothetical situation is presented, were (subjunctive) must be used even if the subject is singular.
e.g. If I were to be asked, I would say jump!

Parallelism is correct: HE could: 1. eat....., 2. relax...., 3. and buff his.....

(A) If a latter-day Robinson Crusoe was marooned on an island with an eclectic mix of palms, he could eat dates and coconut meat, relax in a palm recliner in his palm-post bungalow under a palm-thatch roof,

(B) If a latter-day Robinson Crusoe was marooned on an island with an eclectic mix of palms, he could eat dates and coconut meat, relaxing in a palm recliner in his palm-post bungalow under a palm-thatch roof,: Incorrect. Distorts the parallelism. Now, relaxing... is a modifier and is the end result of what he could do, which is not the intent.

(C) If a latter-day Robinson Crusoe were marooned on an island with an eclectic mix of palms, he could eat dates and coconut meat, relax in a palm recliner in his palm-post bungalow under a palm-thatch roof, Correct.

(D) If a latter-day Robinson Crusoe were marooned on an island with an eclectic mix of palms, he could eat dates and coconut meat, relaxing in a palm recliner in his palm-post bungalow under a palm-thatch roof, Incorrect. same as B

(E) If a latter-day Robinson Crusoe was marooned on an island with an eclectic mix of palms, he could eat dates and coconut meat, to relax in a palm recliner in his palm-post bungalow under a palm-thatch roof, Incorrect. making relax an infinitive changes the intent.

Official Explanation

Correct Answer: C

The best answer is C. The sentence starts with the word if setting up a conditional situation. The correct form of to be with a conditional is were.

Straightforward you can eliminate options with the construction If X was ...

We are left with options C and D.

Option D violates parallelism.

Answer is C.

Bunuel

i think there should be a "," comma before " and watch a palm-fringed sunset."
the last entity of non underlined portion ..

thx

If a latter-day Robinson Crusoe was marooned on an island with an eclectic mix of palms, he could eat dates and coconut meat, relax in a palm recliner in his palm-post bungalow under a palm-thatch roof, buff his palm-plank surfboard with carnauba palm wax and watch a palm-fringed sunset.

can OPTION d be correct??
parallelism is still maintained he could eat,relaxing (modifier),buff and watch.