NandishSS wrote:
HI
GMATGuruNY,
MentorTutoring ,
generis,
I'm bit confused with
had/were when we have a conditional statement here and also
attending/attendCan you add your thoughts here
Hello,
NandishSS, and thank you for drawing my attention to this question. Concerning the first split you mentioned, it is appropriate to use
had with a conditional statement in the past tense, when commenting on what could have been (as opposed to the actual outcome), while
were is used in the present tense, as though projecting a potential outcome. Compare the following:
1) If Deion
were to focus on one sport instead of two, he
could be the best cornerback in the history of American football.
2) If Deion
had focused on one sport instead of two, he
could have been the best cornerback in the history of American football.
The above sentences shed some light on the second split as well, even if we are not dealing with an -ing conjugation of a verb. Notice in sentence 1 that the present conditional utilizes a
were + [infinitive] construct. The past conditional in sentence 2 does not. The only way we could use an -ing construct in sentence 2 is if it included a past perfect
had been focusing, but there is no compelling reason to do so over the version that already appears. In the sentence at hand, the non-underlined portion tells us that an outcome has already been reached. I will draw attention to the errors in usage. See if you can understand the logic behind my markings.
Bunuel wrote:
If Charles had spent half as much time attending his classes as he did complaining about them, he would have been a good student.
(A) had spent half as much time attending his classes as he did complaining
(B) had spent half as much time to attend his classes as he did to complain
(C) were to spend as much time attending his classes as he does complaining
(D) were to spend half as much time attending his classes as complaining
(E) should spend half as much time attending his classes as to complain
I hope that helps. If something does not make sense in my color coding, feel free to ask about it.
- Andrew