Recently, the Deputy Minister of Education gave a speech before parlia

The subject for were is Annual Funding.
If we go with Choice C there will be Subject Verb number disagreement as Annual Funding is singular and were is plural.

Is Annual Funding singular or plural ?

Hi, PriyamRathor,

If I were you, I would peruse https://www.wallstreetenglish.com/blog/ ... onditional esp. the section tilted An exception about the verb ‘to be

A. be realized if annual funding for female education would have been
"would be...would have been" is absolutely harry Maquire of the sentence correction .just wrong all around

B. have been realized if annual funding for female education would have been
using same tense for two different times while it's a hypothetical situation .incorrect

C. be realized if annual funding for female education were
now this seems fine ."would...were" seems good

D. be realized if annual funding for female education was
"was" is wrong

E. be realized if annual funding for female education had been
again .the hypothetical situation ,past perfect continuous is wrong.
IMO C

Recently, the Deputy Minister of Education gave a speech before parliament concerning the significant increase in national literacy levels that would be realized if annual funding for female education would have been increased by just 0.1% of the country’s GDP.

A. be realized if annual funding for female education 'would have been'
if expresses a hypthetical condition, best expressed though plural form of verb...use of would have been is incorrect

B. 'have been realized' if annual funding for female education would have been
conditional clause -- would 'be realised' is more appropriate

C. be realized if annual funding for female education 'were'
appropriate use of plural form of verb 'were' to express hypothetical condition..Hence, the CORRECT option.

D. be realized if annual funding for female education 'was'
use of singular form of verb 'was' to express hypothetical condition..Hence, incorrect

E. be realized if annual funding for female education had been
use of past perfect form of verb 'had been' to express hypothetical condition..Hence, incorrect

Hello daysleisure and PriyamRathor

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your queries, "were" is used to refer to a singular subject in the correct option because this sentence utilises the subjunctive mood construction “wishful trigger (if) + plural form of verb”; example: "If I were an athlete, I would be super fit.". In an imaginative context, subjunctive mood is a preferred usage for conveying the intended meaning effectively.

To understand the concept of "Subjunctive Mood" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~20 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Expert's Global Official Explanation:

Subjunctive Mood + Tenses + Meaning

Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that a significant increase in national literacy levels would be realized if annual funding for female education were increased by just .1% of the country’s GDP.

• As the context here is imaginative, subjunctive mood is a preferred usage for conveying the intended meaning effectively; remember, “wishful trigger (if) + plural form of verb” is a correct, subjunctive usage; example: "If I were an athlete, I would be super fit".
• The past conditional tense is used to refer to hypothetical or imaginative actions in the past.
• The future conditional tense is the correct tense used for referring to hypothetical future events.
• The past perfect continuous tense (marked by the use of the helping verb "had/have been") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past and one action is in greater past as well as continuous in nature.

A. The sentence formed by this answer choice incorrectly uses the past conditional tense verb “would have been increased” to refer to a hypothetical future action, annual funding for female education being increased; please remember, the past conditional tense is only used to refer to hypothetical or imaginative actions in the past; the future conditional tense is the correct tense used for referring to hypothetical future events.

B. The sentence formed by this answer choice incorrectly uses the past conditional tense verbs “would have been realized” and “would have been increased” to refer to two hypothetical future actions, a significant increase in national literacy levels being realized and annual funding for female education being increased; please remember, the past conditional tense is only used to refer to hypothetical or imaginative actions in the past; the future conditional tense is the correct tense used for referring to hypothetical future events.

C. Correct. The sentence formed by this answer choice correctly uses the future conditional tense verbs "would be realized" and “were increased” to refer to hypothetical future actions, a significant increase in national literacy levels being realized and annual funding for female education being increased. Further, by using “if…were increased”, Option C maintains a correct subjunctive mood structure “wishful trigger (if) + plural form of verb (“were increased”)”.

D. Trap. The sentence formed by this answer choice fails to maintain a correct subjunctive mood structure, “wishful trigger (if) + plural form of verb” by using the singular verb “was”; please note, as the context here is imaginative, subjunctive mood is a preferred usage for conveying the intended meaning effectively, and “wishful trigger (if) + plural form of verb (were)” is a correct, subjunctive usage.

E. Trap. The sentence formed by this answer choice incorrectly uses the past perfect continuous tense verb “had been increased” to refer to a hypothetical future event, annual funding for female education being increased; please remember, the past perfect continuous tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had/have been") is only used when a sentence contains two actions in the past and one action is in greater past as well as continuous in nature; the helping verb "had been" is used with the action that is in the greater past and continuous in nature; the future conditional tense is the correct tense used for referring to hypothetical future events.

C is the best answer choice.

Interesting Discussion:

A student once wrote to us, asking why the correct answer choice uses the plural verb “were increased” to refer to the singular noun “funding”. Can you see what the student missed? In this context, the increase in funding is a hypothetical, or imaginary action, one that the Deputy Minister of Education’s speech references. Therefore, using the subjunctive mood construction “wishful trigger (if) + plural form of verb” is preferred, and here “if” is the wishful trigger that signifies that the following action is imaginary; thus, the plural verb “were” must be used.

Expert's Global Video Explanation:

Recently, the Deputy Minister of Education gave a speech before parliament concerning the significant increase in national literacy levels that would be realized if annual funding for female education would have been increased by just 0.1% of the country’s GDP.

A. be realized if annual funding for female education would have been
B. have been realized if annual funding for female education would have been
C. be realized if annual funding for female education were
D. be realized if annual funding for female education was
E. be realized if annual funding for female education had been



How this is subjunctive?
egmat can you help here?

I am Happy to respond!

Please note that it is a classical case of {if-then}
Eg. I wish I were the President of India- CORRECT
I wish I was the President of India- WRONG


To express hypothetical case- we use past subjunctive form of verb

Past subjunctive form of verb --- form of "be" is were and not was,and for all other verbs the past subjunctive form is same as simple past form.

Hence, Option D is wrong construction.

Cheers and all the Best.

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