chendawg wrote:I am going through chapter 7 of the Manhattan GMAT Sentence correction right now, and I'm not quite fully understanding the unlikely case. The example they've given is as follows:

IF Sophie ATE pizza tomorrow, THEN she WOULD BECOME ill.

IF (Hypothetical Subjunctive), THEN (Conditional)

I understand the conditional tense gives us an unlikely case and needs to be in the THEN clause, but are we required to use the hypothetical subjunctive in the IF clause? Also, the clause "IF Sophie ATE pizza tomorrow" is a hypothetical subjunctive, correct? The book isn't too clear on this point at this point in the book.

Thanks!

hrishi19884 wrote:If Sophie eats pizza tomorrow, then she will be ill ---future tense ---(here, we are sure that Sophie will be ill)

IF Sophie ate pizza tomorrow, THEN she would become ill --- (hypothetical situation and here we are not completely sure that "Sophie will be ill"(possibility is there))

"ate"(past tense) should always follow "would" and not "will". Hence the sentence is correct

chendawg wrote:

hrishi19884 wrote:If Sophie eats pizza tomorrow, then she will be ill ---future tense ---(here, we are sure that Sophie will be ill)

IF Sophie ate pizza tomorrow, THEN she would become ill --- (hypothetical situation and here we are not completely sure that "Sophie will be ill"(possibility is there))

"ate"(past tense) should always follow "would" and not "will". Hence the sentence is correct

I know the sentence is correct; my question is whether we are always required to use the hypothetical subjunctive in the IF clause.

chendawg wrote:So using the same sentence as the example, what other forms can we use in the IF clause, while keeping the SAME THEN cluase? Can you give me some examples? Thanks!