A grammar question

Question

Because this house was badly built, the ceiling of this room ---- if it ---- heavily outside.

A) would leak / rains
B) will leak / had been raining
C) has leaked / would rain
D) is leaking / will rain
E) leaks / were raining

Hi, teachers. The answer of this question was given "E".

Do you think it is possible in the view of context and meaning? Why?

THanks in advance.

MrPedantic · Accepted Answer

Hello Jet Li, welcome to English Forums!

These are the possible answers, to my mind (excluding modals such as "may", "might", etc.):

1. Because this house was badly built, the ceiling of this room leaks if it has been raining heavily outside.

2. Because this house was badly built, the ceiling of this room leaks if it is raining heavily outside.

3. Because this house was badly built, the ceiling of this room would leak if it were raining heavily outside.

4. Because this house was badly built, the ceiling of this room would leak if it rained heavily outside.

5. Because this house was badly built, the ceiling of this room would leak if it were to rain heavily outside.

6. Because this house was badly built, the ceiling of this room will leak if it rains/is raining/has been raining heavily outside.

I wouldn't recommend any of the original options; certainly not E. The subjunctive "were" doesn't accord here with the indicative "leaks".

All the best,

MrP

Jet Li · Answer

THanks a lot for your respectable explanation.

The 3rd and the 4th sentences you have given have been accepted in our forum,www.dilforum.com/forum/index.php , which is a friend of your forum.

Thanks again....

Marius Hancu · Answer

ALL the answers given in the above by MrP seem fine to me.

A grammar question

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions