The famous rivalry of Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola

Question

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1) 
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The famous rivalry  of Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had not seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought  the bankrupt Pepsi Cola Company.

A) of Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had not seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought

B) of Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had not seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and hadn’t bought

C) between Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had not seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought

D) between Coke and Pepsi would never be if Coca-Cola had seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought

E) between Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)

THE PROMPT  
 
• Concepts tested
→ Logic and meaning
 If Coke had bought Pepsi when Coke had a chance to do so, the rivalry between the two companies might never have existed.

→ verb tenses in and structure of conditional and hypothetical sentences
The options lock us into an IF clause that uses past perfect—IF something HAD happened in the past, then . . .
. . . something else might   have happened.
This construction is called a Type III conditional.
-- If  past perfect , then . . .  perfect conditional .
-- If THIS thing had happened, then THAT thing may/might/would have happened (but neither thing happened).

→ idiom 
A rivalry is  between  X and Y, not  of  X and Y.

THE OPTIONS  
 
• Idiom: the correct idiom is  rivalry  between   X and Y (not, as in (A),  rivalry of )

• Illogical: if Coca-Cola had NOT . . . bought Pepsi, there might have been no rivalry?
→ the word  not  makes the logic exactly backwards
Coke did not buy Pepsi. Pepsi later became a huge rival of Coke. If Coke HAD bought Pepsi, no rivalry would have begun.
ELIMINATE A

• same idiom error as that in (A); there is a  rivalry between  Coke and Pepsi, not a rivalry OF Coke and Pepsi.

• same logical error as that in (A); the problems are in the words  not  and  hadn't (had not) 
→ If Coke had not seized the opportunity to buy Pepsi and had not bought Pepsi . . . ???? Huh?
→ Coke did not buy Pepsi.
→ If Coke HAD bought Pepsi, no rivalry would have begun.
ELIMINATE B

• same logical error as that in options A and B
→ the word  not  is illogical
ELIMINATE C

• wrong verb tense—  would never be  should be  would never have been 
→ we are dealing with an unreal condition  in the past  and its probable result  in the past 
→ in Type III conditionals, both things never happened. 
These sentences are true hypotheticals because it is now too late for the condition or its result to exist.

The reality is the opposite of, or contrary to, what the sentence expresses. 
→ If THIS thing had happened, then THAT thing would / may / might   have happened (but THIS thing did not happen, and THAT thing did not happen)
→ IF past perfect, THEN perfect conditional

Past perfect: HAD + past participle (verbED)

Perfect conditional: WOULD / MAY / MIGHT + HAVE + past participle (verbED)

Tip  : on the GMAT, if conditional or hypothetical clauses are inverted, change the sentence to IF _____, THEN ____
Rewrite:  If Coca Cola had . . . bought Pepsi,   the rivalry between Coke and Pepsi would never be.  
→  would never be ? No. 
The correct phrasing is  would never have been .

Would never be  sounds like speculation about the future and is not set in the past.
Example:  He would never be a surgeon because he gets woozy at the sight of blood. 
That verb tense speculates about the future from the point of view of the present.
ELIMINATE D

→ I see no errors
→ reverse the clauses to check:
 If Coca-Cola had . . . bought the Pepsi Cola company  , the rivalry between Coke and Pepsi may never have been   . 
→ But Coke DID NOT buy Pepsi, and there IS a rivalry. 
→ When neither thing happened and the time is past for both condition and result, the result clause should stay in the past, as is the case in the phrase  may never have been 
KEEP

The correct answer is E.

• NOTES

Don't worry too much about the difference between degrees of certainty in modals.

Option E is not correct because  may  is better than  would .

Option E is correct because the verb phrase in the results clause stays in the past, where it belongs.

COMMENTS

These answers are good; explanation in some posts is top-notch. 
Kudos to all.

GyanaDash · Answer

The famous rivalry of  Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had not seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought  the bankrupt Pepsi Cola Company.

Question Type: Logical predication

A) of Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had not seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought 
 Wrong  The rivalry may not have been if Coca-Cola had not bought Pepsi? Seems illogical.

B) of Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had not seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and hadn’t bought 
 Wrong  Similar to Option A.

C) between Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had not seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought 
 Wrong  Similar to Option A & B

D) between Coke and Pepsi would never be if Coca-Cola had seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought 
 Correct  The use of “would” shows that there would not have been a rivalry, which seems logical. If Coca-Cola had bought Pepsi, then it would only be one company.

E) between Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought 
 Wrong  The use of “May” shows that there is a possibility of a rivalry even if there is only one company in existence. This is illogical.

Thank you.

AntrikshR · Answer

The sentence presents a structure of hypothetical scenario that the famous rivalry between coca cola and pepsi would never have occurred if coca cola had seized the opportunity that was presented to it between 1922 and 1933 and bought Pepsi.
Only D is aligned to this thought.

'may never have been' in all the other options suggests that there were chances of rivalry, even if coke had bought pepsi.
'would have' presents a hypothetical scenario that suggests if the coke had brought pepsi before then for sure we would not have seen any rivalry between these two companies.

exc4libur · Answer

notes: idiom is "riv between x and y"; may never have been correct conditional; "never.. and not" implies the inverse of the sentence's intention.

Ans (E)

carrotcake · Answer

The famous rivalry  of Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had  not seized the opportunity  presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought  the bankrupt Pepsi Cola Company.

#1 - 'had not seized' doesn't communicate the intended meaning that Coca-Cola should have seized the opportunity to buy out Pepsi and therefore stop the rivalry

A) of Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had  not seized  the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought

B) of Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had  not seized  the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and hadn’t bought

C) between Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had  not seized  the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought

#2 - reshuffling the conditionals, we're looking for something that never happened

D) between Coke and Pepsi would never be if Coca-Cola had  seized  the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought

--> if Coca-Cola had seized the opportunity presented, the famous rivalry  would never be  --> no conditional perfect tense

E) between Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had  seized  the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought

--> if Coca-Cola had seized the opportunity presented, the famous rivalry  may never have been  -- conditional perfect tense

The winner is: E

jhavyom · Answer

The famous rivalry of Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola had not seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought the bankrupt Pepsi Cola Company.

Understand the meaning:
If Coca-Cola had grabbed(seized) the opportunity and bought Pepsi, then the rivalry between the two may never have happened.

Eliminate A, B, and C.

D) between Coke and Pepsi  would never be  if Coca-Cola had seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought

E) between Coke and Pepsi  may never have been  if Coca-Cola had seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought

For IF...THEN constructions, rule for ' Cases that never happened ' is 
 IF past perfect, THEN conditional perfect

Rearranging the above sentences,
D) if Coca-Cola had seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought the bankrupt Pepsi Cola Company, then famous rivalry between Coke and Pepsi  would never be

E) if Coca-Cola had seized the opportunity presented three times between 1922 and 1933 and bought the bankrupt Pepsi Cola Company, then the famous rivalry between Coke and Pepsi  may never have been

Clearly, E follows the above rule.
E is the answer.

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here .

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The famous rivalry of Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The famous rivalry of Coke and Pepsi may never have been if Coca-Cola

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