Sentence Correction

Scientists have identified an asteroid, 2000 BF19, that is about half a mile wide and, if it strikes Earth, it can do tremendous damage to part of the planet but probably not cause planet-wide destruction.

A. and, if it strikes Earth, it can do tremendous damage to part of the planet but
B. and, if it would strike Earth, part of the planet could experience a tremendous amount of damage but it would
C. and that, if it were to strike Earth, could do tremendous damage to part of the planet but would
D. and that, if Earth is struck by it, can do part of the planet tremendous damage, but it would
E. and that, if it strikes Earth, it could experience a tremendous amount of damage but

[spoiler]OA: My question is whether the usage of would & could in the same sentence correct???????[/spoiler]

my 2 cents : Gmat makers do not like if with can.
And if "could" indicates possibility, can be used with would

my answer is E

aspirant2011 wrote:Scientists have identified an asteroid, 2000 BF19, that is about half a mile wide and, if it strikes Earth, it can do tremendous damage to part of the planet but probably not cause planet-wide destruction.

C. and that, if it were to strike Earth, could do tremendous damage to part of the planet but would

[spoiler]OA: My question is whether the usage of would & could in the same sentence correct???????[/spoiler]

My inputs-
We need to understand that "could" comes from CAN and "would" comes from WILL
So where we have a factor of uncertainity we use could. But, where we have conditional, we use would.

In this the scientist are sure that it won't b a planet wide destruction BUT it could do tremendous damage on the part where it strikes !!

'Would' and 'Could' are never used in an 'If' clause. 'If' in itself specifies conditionality.

IMO C

What is wrong with A??

+1 for C.

ranjithreddy.k9 wrote:What is wrong with A??

Here we are talking about the HYPOTHETICAL situation.
So we need to use the IF IT WERE construction.

I hope it is clear
Thanks