A recent and popular self-help book wryly notes that if adolescence

Question

A recent and popular self-help book wryly notes that if adolescence  was not so painful, it  would have a droll comedic aspect, at least in retrospect.

(A) was not so painful, it
(B) was not so painful, they
(C) were not so painful, they
(D) were not so painful, it
(E) were not so painful, being one

rahoooli · Accepted Answer

Here is another explanation:

subjunctive mood (indicating a hypothetical state or a state contrary to reality, such as a wish, a desire, or an imaginary situation). It is harder to explain the subjunctive. Five hundred years ago, English had a highly developed subjunctive mood. However, after the fourteenth century, speakers of English used the subjunctive less frequently. Today, the mood has practically vanished; modern speakers tend to use the conditional forms of "could" and "would" to indicate statements contrary to reality. The subjunctive only survives in a few, fossilized examples, so they can be confusing. Here are the most common uses:

1. By far the most common use of the subjunctive is the use of the subjunctive after "if" clauses that state or describe a hypothetical situation.

Subjunctive: "If I were a butterfly, I would have wings."

Note that in the indicative, we normally write, "I was." For instance, "When I was a young boy, I liked to swim." However, to indicate the subjunctive, we write "I were." The subjunctive indicates a statement contrary to fact. In the butterfly example above, I am not really a butterfly, but I am describing a hypothetical situation that might occur if I were one.

Indicative: "When I was a butterfly in a former life, I had wings."

gomennassai · Answer

For subjunctive mood which is indicated by the conditional "if" always use "WERE" not "WAS". Therefore eliminate A,B

Among C,D,E the subject adolescence is singular so we need a singular pronoun --- eliminate C
E is using being one -- wrong.

Answer is D.

jolt · Answer

I think it has to do with the "if" before adolescence.

Adolescence was not so painful

If adolescence were not so painful

ugimba · Answer

good question... I too went for A at first glance, but realized that option D is correct. the sentece is talking about past unreal condition. some thing like this ..

if she  were  studying, she would pass the exam ...

daagh · Answer

A past conditional subjunctive case, where the normal idiomatic usage is simple past in the if clause (if I were, If it were etc,) and a modal future perfect tense in the main clause. Answer choice D is the correct one. Adolescence is the subject of the sub-clause, hence its pronoun is –it-. Choice D is the best answer.

dvinoth86 · Answer

The meaning of this sentence speaks about a hypothetical scenario. Hence the structure is   "If I were ..., I would ..."  .

a.  was  not so painful, it
b. was not so painful,  they  adolescence is singular
c. were not so painful,  they  adolescence is singular
  d. were not so painful, it  
e. were not so painful,  being  one

gmat2015p · Answer

The question is about subjunctive 'would' . Hence in (A) we need a 'were' instead of 'was'

In (B) and (C), 'they' does not have an antecedent. In (E), being one is incorrect / wordy

D = Correct

BillyZ · Answer

Official Explanation 
The original contains a verb mood error. “If adolescence was” is improper subjunctive. “Was” should not be used in an “if” clause indicating a hypothetical condition. "If adolescence were” is correct.

(A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) This choice has a verb mood error. “Was” should not be used in an “if” clause indicating a hypothetical condition; “were” would be correct. Also, the plural “they” can not refer to the singular “adolescence.”

(C) This choice correctly employs the subjunctive mood by stating “if adolescence were.” However, the plural “they” can not refer to the singular “adolescence.”

(D) CORRECT . The “ if ” clause properly uses the  subjunctive mood , “ if adolescence were. ” The singular “ it ” refers to the singular “ adolescence. ”

(E) This choice correctly employs the subjunctive mood by stating “if adolescence were.” However, “being one” is wordy and awkward; using “it” is preferable. “Being” is virtually always wordy and incorrect.

pra1785 · Answer

On a side note: Manhattan Prep has this question listed under 700-800 category

godot53 · Answer

Very much possible...because there is a difference in attempting a question in an exam environment and as a discrete problem. That's one of the potential reason why you would find many official questions categorized as "low" in gmatclub, yet they are presented in the last set in OG. Cheers !!

Nightmare007 · Answer

A recent and popular self-help book wryly notes that if adolescence was not so painful, it would have a droll comedic aspect, at least in retrospect.

(A) was not so painful, it
(B) was not so painful, they
(C) were not so painful, they
(D) were not so painful, it
(E) were not so painful, being one

Sir  daagh ,

Is it impossible for adolescence to be not painful ???

if we use "were" it means that it is impossible situation. Hypothetically we are assuming the situation of adolescence not being painful and interpreting the Then clause.

If its possible for adolescence to be not painful. Then we need to use simple past to show that if it was not painful , it would .....

Can you please clarify where am going wrong.

Arpitkumar · Answer

HI Experts , pls help me understand why A is incorrect choice here ?

Arpitkumar · Answer

Still unsure why A is the wrong option here , Can someone help me understand the same ?

amanguptaiitr · Answer

Hi,
1. I thought that subjunctive verb is used when the sentence contains signal words such as demand, dictate etc.
2. Should we always use subjunctive verb when 'if' is used?

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

The subjunctive is indeed used in situations involving those signal words, in which case it is termed "the command subjunctive."

The subjunctive is also used when situations described are hypothetical.

For example:

If John were here, he would know what to say.

In that sentence, the subjunctive "were" rather than the indicative "was" is used, because John's being here is not actual or possible. It is hypothetical.

At the same time, we don't always use the subjunctive after "if," because not every clause that begins with "if" describes something hypothetical.

For example:

If John was here, then probably he saw what happened to the apples.

In that example, John's being here is not hypothetical. Rather it is possible.

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Aman, as Marty mentions in his post, we need to distinguish between the  if statements  that are  hypothetical  constructs vis-a-vis  simple  conditional.

For example, you would say:

If Aman works hard, he will score well.

There is  no  reason for us to use the following  subjunctive  version:

If Aman were to work hard, he would score well.

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  Conditional constructs , their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

LoneSurvivor · Answer

Subjunctive mood is used here so were will be used. So option A,B eliminated. Now Adolescence is a singular entity so it will be used. So narrow down to D and E. Now in E there is a sentence structure problem using  "Being"  .

So +1 for D .

A recent and popular self-help book wryly notes that if adolescence was not so painful, it would have a droll comedic aspect, at least in retrospect.

(A) was not so painful, it
(B) was not so painful, they
(C) were not so painful, they
(D)  were not so painful, it 
(E) were not so painful, being one

MauriceDurham · Answer

I want to find out so that I know for sure. Usually I operate with some knowledge in part and this is to mislead me on another account, so all the ways of application is also interesting.

Dhwanii · Answer

In D, 'it' can refer to adolescence as well as book. Hence I went for E, why is E wrong ? and 'it' in D ?

A recent and popular self-help book wryly notes that if adolescence

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A recent and popular self-help book wryly notes that if adolescence

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