It is well known that if the South had used better military tactics

Question

11. It is well known that if the South  had used better military tactics, they could had won  the war with the North.

a) had used better military tactics, they could had won
b) have used better military tactics, they could have won
c) could have used better military tactics, they could have won
d) had the South used better military tactics, they could win
e) had the South used better military tactics, they could have won

Source: GMATClub Grammar Book

PTK · Answer

The answer choices D and E must be messed. Please check them again as well as the sentence and how long is the underlined portion.

Answer must be E

vivesomnium · Answer

Answer should be E. I think repetition of the south is a typing error.

PTK · Answer

yes, i think this is a typing error, becasue other choices are plainly wrong

aljaz11 · Answer

Thanks, I will notify the GMAT Club Grammar administrator of the errors! I appriciate you help

metallicafan · Answer

+1 E This is a classic question for non-native speakers in any English course. 8-)

bb · Answer

I have fixed this one. Thank you.

atulmogha · Answer

On page number 134, in practice test 2 
Question number 11
It is well known that if the south  had used better military tactics, they could have won  the war with the north.

a) had used better military tactics, they could had won
b) have used better military tactics, they could have won
c) could have used better military tactics, they could have won
d) had the South used better military tactics, they could win
e) had the South used better military tactics, they could have won

Here the word "the south" should also be underlined as it confuses about the actual sentence to correct.

hussi9 · Answer

Here the word "the south" should also be underlined as it confuses about the actual sentence to correct.

Yes the south is again repeated in options 4 & 5 . Normally I have never seen such kind of errors.

rohansharma · Answer

Friends,

Out of the given options,I choose option C,Can you please explain whats wrong with the choice:
1 Possible reason : If it is well known the south  could  have used the better military tactics,then they  would  have won.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Rohan

gmatopoeia · Answer

Answer: E

arzad · Answer

I like E...The South needed better tactics before it could win the war.

aztec04 · Answer

Can someone plz tell me why E is the correct answer? Why is 'have'(present) a correct answer when the verb in the 'if' clause contains 'had'(past).

Do we have to use present tense with the conditional? Please clarify.

ts2014 · Answer

hi aztec04 and rohansharma, i chose E because, in my opinion there needs to be a sequence of events clearly shown. C- Could have used....could have won this would mean that both occured at the same time (both are present perfect tenses), whereas we clearly know that the winning of the war (would) happen only after the use of military techniques. hence the tenses need to be different. Hence wrong E- had used, have won in this sentence, there are clearly 2 sequences. had used (past perfect) and have won (present perfect) which clearly show the sequence of events. Kudos if you feel my explanation is correct!! :-D

gregfromnancy · Answer

Question taken from the GMAT ultimate grammar book
from test 2

It is well known that if the South  had used better military tactics, they could had won  the war with the North.

a) had used better military tactics, they could had won
b) have used better military tactics, they could have won
c) could have used better military tactics, they could have won
d) had used better military tactics, they could win
e) had used better military tactics, they could have won

answer is E
I choose A
could you please explain why do we use the past progressive tense in this answer?
Thanks

gregfromnancy · Answer

Sorry, went too fast:

It is well known that if the South  had used better military tactics, they could had won  the war with the North.

aditya8062 · Answer

not sure where do u find this but E seems oki

jeffjose · Answer

Please edit the original post with the underlined portion. Also, providing the answer outside of the "reveal" tag is kinda annoying when you're trying to solve the problem.

daagh · Answer

This is relevant to the third conditionals. As per that, if the conditional part uses a past perfect such as ‘had used’ then the effect part(the main clause) should be in the modal present perfect, such as ‘could have’, ‘might have’ or ‘would have’. Therefore, E is the answer

robu · Answer

why C is incorrect? please explain.

It is well known that if the South had used better military tactics

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

It is well known that if the South had used better military tactics

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