"were" or "had been" ???

Question

I am studying grammer for college placement tests. I have been having some trouble with grammar errors such as this:

1. If the books have been cataloged last week, why haven't they been placed on the shelf?

A. have been cataloged
B. would have been cataloged
C. was cataloged
D. were cataloged
E. had been cataloged

My intincts say the "D" is the correct answer. Am I right? What topics in English are relevant to this? This seems to be a weak spot for me.

Thanks

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

AnonymousWhat topics in English are relevant to this?

There are four wrong answers and one right one (D). That means there are at least four topics in English that are relevant to working out the answer. There are four choices that you should be able to see are wrong. There are four different reasons why they are wrong.

A. You can't have a present perfect with a mention of a definite time, so you can't have have been cataloged last week.
B. would does not occur in an if clause (except in some very special cases which don't apply here), so you can't have if the books would have ....
C. If the subject is plural (books), the verb must also be plural (were), not singular (was), so you can't have books was.
E. When an if clause has the past perfect (had been ...), the main clause has would have. There's no would in the second clause, or in fact anywhere in the whole sentence, so this one can't be right.

CJ

"were" or "had been" ???

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