Medical experts predict that the number of unnecessary deaths in nursing homes will rise if the elderly resident ratio in public facilities were more numerous than ten residents for every one staff member.


A) will rise if the elderly resident ratio in public facilities were more numerous than

B) will rise if the ratio of elderly residents in public facilities is greater than

C) should rise if the elderly resident ratio in public facilities was greater than

D) would rise provided the ratio of elderly residents in public facilities is more than

E) would rise if the ratio of elderly residents in public facilities is more numerous than


The best or excellent answers get kudos, which will be awarded after the answer is revealed. There may be no best or excellent answers, or there may be a few.
_________________

IMO it's (E).

The subject is 'The number of unnecessary deaths' and then the sentence continues into a conditional 'if' structure.

This is related to the subjunctive: If...were,...would (or vice-versa)
Eg:

If I were smart, I would get into a big school.
I would get in to a big school if I were smarter.

The structure is clearly followed in answer E, so it's right.

EDIT: Clearly, I didn't read the question correctly and jumped into random conclusions.
Apologies, people. I had just studied about the 'subjunctive' before I saw this question so I jumped on it. This is definitely not the way to approach SC questions.
Please disregard my answer above. Thanks.

IMO B

Meaning: Already a prediction is made, using IF conditional. Since the prediction is made in present followed by IF in present tense..All things should be in present tense.
Usage of WOULD is wrong because Predict has been used before, which already presents an assumption of something

A) will rise if the elderly resident ratio in public facilities were more numerous than ---wrong, SV issue, singular subject RATIO ..to be followed by singular verb

B) will rise if the ratio of elderly residents in public facilities is greater than--Correct, SV agree and IF is in present tense

C) should rise if the elderly resident ratio in public facilities was greater than ---Wrong, Subjunctive is followed by base verb form, and wrong usage of Tense in IF conditional

D) would rise provided the ratio of elderly residents in public facilities is more than ---wrong, change in meaning

E) would rise if the ratio of elderly residents in public facilities is more numerous than ---wrong, Would and predict---redundancy
_________________

The correct usage is "if the ratio of elderly residents" and incorrect usage of resident instead of plural residents leads to elimination of options A and C. For Ratio, "greater than" should be used not "more than" as it a countable entity. Therefore the correct option is B

Posted from my mobile device

Medical experts predict that the number of unnecessary deaths in nursing homes will rise if the elderly resident ratio in public facilities were more numerous than ten residents for every one staff member.


A) will rise if the elderly resident ratio in public facilities were more numerous than
B) will rise if the ratio of elderly residents in public facilities is greater than
C) should rise if the elderly resident ratio in public facilities was greater than
D) would rise provided the ratio of elderly residents in public facilities is more than
E) would rise if the ratio of elderly residents in public facilities is more numerous than

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

• Because of the non-underlined verb predict, this sentence is established in the present tense from the beginning

• Therefore, in option A, the verb were in the underlined portion is in the wrong tense, especially because it's part of a conditional IF clause [see comments and resource link below].

• Eliminate A and any others that repeat the verb error, including C, for the verb was

• Compare the other answer choices

• Choice B corrects the IF/then and the verb error. Keep it.

• The words predict that are typically followed by the simple future tense will. Therefore, eliminate D and E.

• The correct answer is B

COMMENTS

mokiburnsred , welcome!

This opinion is impressionistic only, but conditionals are among the least-studied subjects.

I would recommend that aspirants start HERE, on this site.
That site is among the best I have found on conditionals.
Read every link.
Reading everything should take no more than 20 minutes.
Digesting and understanding the content will take longer than that.

You can search a few test prep sites. This material, though, is typically guarded jealously by prep companies.
You can find short blips about conditionals from the major test prep companies, but they do not cover 20-30% of what I think is needed.

There are five types of conditionals: Zero, Type1, Type 2, Type 3, and Mixed

For NEGATIVE conditionals (unless and if not), see dave13 's post, here..

Thanks, all, for your posts!

Yash312 and warrior1991 wrote the best answers. (warrior1991 , there's your reply to your request for feedback. )Kudos!
_________________

Meaning: Per medical experts' prediction, if the elder ratio in public facilities is greater than ten residents for every one staff member, then the number of unnecessary deaths in the nursing homes will rise.

Error:
1) Incorrect If..then construction: Since the sentence states medical experts' prediction as fact we will use If simple present, then will (certainty) construction.

2) Incorrect use of more and numerous: since we are comparing ratios we will use greater than.

Answer: B. This choices corrects both the errors in original statement and conveys intended meaning


Medical experts predict that the number of unnecessary deaths in nursing homes will rise if the elderly resident ratio in public facilities were more numerous than ten residents for every one staff member.

Thanks generis for the conditional website reference. its crisp yet very clear with useage. Have not seen such collaborated info on forum, though there but scattered. Kudos to your hard work