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  1. Our school had won the match if only we have concentrated.
  2. Our school would have won the match if only we would have concentrated.
  3. Our school would win the match if only we had concentrated.
  4. Our school had won the match if only we would have concentrated.
  5. Our school would have won the match if only we had concentrated.

Tell me which one is correct.

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2
  • tell me guys...
    – Piyush
    Commented Feb 3, 2011 at 21:15
  • 5 is correct. The first verb is the past subjunctive (subjunctive is a mood, not a tense), while the second is the pluperfect conditional.
    – Noldorin
    Commented Feb 4, 2011 at 0:18

4 Answers 4

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7

Only sentence 5. is correct. Whenever if only is used in a dependent clause, the independent clause must take the conditional perfect (or present, etc.) tense.

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2

5 is the only correct one, but you have the additional near-miss on 3:

Our school would win the match if only we concentrated.

A hypoethetical future result based on a possible current action, as opposed to the past/past combination you have in your statements.

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1

The fifth one is the only one which doesn't sound marked to me, as a native English speaker. I believe that some speakers of American would consider the second one acceptable too.

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3
  • 1
    Sentence 2 would certainly be acceptable in French but certainly not in English :)
    – Jimi Oke
    Commented Feb 3, 2011 at 22:03
  • 1
    Indeed; "if I/you/we would have..." seems to be becoming more common, but that doesn't make it any more correct (yet)!
    – Steve Melnikoff
    Commented Feb 4, 2011 at 10:25
  • It would be nice if the person who voted this down explained why.
    – Peter Taylor
    Commented Feb 4, 2011 at 10:49
0

This is a question from placement test, see: http://fw.freshersworld.com/placementweek/showpaper.asp?cid=28&pid=14267&pgcount=1&prio=8

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/47983144/CTS-Placment-Papers-20-jan-2010

The last one is correct.

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