Dear Instructor,

Following is the problem I have came across in my Manhattan GMAT CAT exam.

Q) The health commissioner said that the government had implemented strict measures to eradicate the contaminated food and, despite the recent illnesses, it will try to prevent the outbreak from recurring in the future.

a) it will try

b) that it tried

c) it had tried

d) it would have tried

e) that it would try

I picked option "d". However the answer it showing as option "e".

The explanation for "d"is as follows.

Explanation: This is a tempting choice as it fixes the verb tense to the conditional "would." However, the tense is technically "conditional perfect" (would have tried), which is not the proper tense. Moreover, an extra "that" is needed to make the two clauses "the government had..." and "it would try" parallel.

However, my point is in case of conditional sentences if there is past perfect in the first part then in second part we need "would + have + pp) but here it has not considered "have". I am confused, please explain.

Regards,
Shrikant

Shrikant,

Great attention to detail here!

The problem is that this is NOT an if/then construction. Therefore, the fact that our first clause is in past perfect does NOT compel us to use the conditional perfect.

What this sentence is trying to do is to express the future from the past's point of view.

"The health commissioner said... that it would try."

This only requires the conditional tense, not the conditional perfect.

Does that help?

Best Wishes,
Dan

Thanks Dan,

Can you please give some more light on this topic? it will be very helpful to solve my doubt.

Regards,
Shrikant

The health commissioner in this sentence is talking about two distinct events in different tenses. First, that the government had implemented strict measures, and second, that it would try to prevent future outbreaks. What Dan is pointing out is that these two events are not being linked conditionally. In this case, "would" is being used as the past tense of "will."

Example: If I say "I will help you," you might report this to a friend by saying "Dmitry said he would help me." This is not a conditional, just "will" in the past tense.

A conditional would be: "If the government had implemented strict measures, it would have been able to prevent the outbreak." (Or " . . . it could have prevented the outbreak.")

_________________
Dmitry Farber
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

Ohh...You are right. I have not given proper attention to Indirect Speech here. After reading so many grammar rules I forgot the most basic rule. Anyways I will give proper attention from next time.

Thanks Dimitry.

Regards,
Shrikant

Thank you everyone.

_________________
Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor