MGMAT SC 3rd Ed - Practice Set - Chapter 7 - Page 151 - Q19

[prithvi.chowdhury]

Hi -

Can you please explain the following:

If Abraham Lincoln were born in Livonia, he cannot become the president of the United States.

I understand the explanation for the 2nd error: "cannot become" should be "could not have become".

But I still do not understand why "were" is incorrect. The mood is past hypothetical subjunctive, and the suggested event is an unreal past event. Therefore, imo, "were" should be correct. Then why does the solution say that it should be "had been born"?

Why does the explanation say "was born" is the simple past of the indicative mood? ("If I were a rich man..." is subjunctive)

Thanks

[RonPurewal]

Hi -

Can you please explain the following:

If Abraham Lincoln were born in Livonia, he cannot become the president of the United States.

I understand the explanation for the 2nd error: "cannot become" should be "could not have become".

But I still do not understand why "were" is incorrect. The mood is past hypothetical subjunctive, and the suggested event is an unreal past event. Therefore, imo, "were" should be correct. Then why does the solution say that it should be "had been born"?

Why does the explanation say "was born" is the simple past of the indicative mood? ("If I were a rich man..." is subjunctive)

Thanks

hmm

i'll confess that i don't actually know the names of these tenses... and you don't have to, either.

just memorize this as an idiom:

for a HYPOTHETICAL that you're imagining in the PRESENT, use "if X were..."
if my girlfriend were here right now, she would comment on this scene.

for a HYPOTHETICAL that you're imagining in the PAST, use "if X had been..."
if my girlfriend had been here 2 years ago, she would have been shocked.