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If Abraham Lincoln were born...

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vaibhavsharma1988
 Post subject: If Abraham Lincoln were born...
 Post Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 8:22 am 
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Students


Posts: 9
Book- ManhattanGMAT prep-the new standard 4th edition
page no - 146 , verb tense,mood & voice problem set

question 19 : If Abraham Lincoln were born in Livonia, he cannot become the President of the United States.

solution(as in the book) : If Abraham Lincoln had been born in Livonia, he could not have become the President of the United States.

in this question both If...then clause are part of the underlined phrase. So how to decide which If..then Construction(given in the book)we have to use here. I mean when only If clause is underlined then we can change it according to the Then clause and vice versa but how to do that in this case.
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tim
 Post subject: Re: If Abraham Lincoln were born...
 Post Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 6:42 pm 
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ManhattanGMAT Staff


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Location: Southwest Airlines, seat 21C
Fair enough. We changed both underlined parts because neither fit with the ancient nature of Abraham Lincoln and his presidency. We can certainly write sentences that keep either of the two underlined sentences intact (by bringing the scenario into the present day), but NOT BOTH because they are not compatible:

If i were late, i could not watch the opening credits.

If i am late, i cannot watch the opening credits.

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Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor
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sharma.paresh
 Post subject: Re: If Abraham Lincoln were born...
 Post Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 10:10 pm 
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About this construction i am very confused with the IF part changes that have been prescribed
As per my understanding hypothetical subjunctive construction is-
If/As If/As though...(Simple Past/were(to be)) ...then would/could...

I understand for the second part could not have become is fine but for the first part should we not use were born as is..?
had been born doesnt match anything about the hypothetical conjunction as it is a past perfect tense
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sharma.paresh
 Post subject: Re: If Abraham Lincoln were born...
 Post Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 10:18 pm 
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ok i got it :)
this is the case that never happened
if past perfect then conditional perfect...

revise revise revise :)
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tim
 Post subject: Re: If Abraham Lincoln were born...
 Post Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 9:02 pm 
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ManhattanGMAT Staff


Posts: 2242
Location: Southwest Airlines, seat 21C
:)

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Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor
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