Nijo wrote:
A recent and popular self-help book wryly notes that if adolescence was not so painful, it would have a droll comedic aspect, at least in retrospect.
A) was not so painful, it
B) was not so painful, they
C) were not so painful, they
D) were not so painful, it
E) were not so painful, being one
To express a state-of-being or action that is HYPOTHETICAL or CONTRARY-TO-FACT, we use the SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Correct:
If John WERE 100 feet tall, he WOULD play basketball.
Here, the verb
were makes it clear that John is not in fact
100 feet tall.
In the SC above:
The self-help book acknowledges a fact of life: ADOLESCENCE IS PAINFUL.
The intent is to discuss a hypothetical situation CONTRARY to this fact:
If adolescence WERE NOT so painful, it WOULD have a droll comedic aspect.
The correct answer is
D.
In C,
they (plural) lacks a plural referent.
The correct answer cannot be C.
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