OG Verbal Review 2016 – Q #30
According to the Economic Development Corporation of Los Angeles County, if one were to count the Los Angeles metropolitan area as a separate nation, it would have the world’s eleventh largest gross national product, that is bigger than that of Australia, Mexico, or the Netherlands.
(A) if one were to count the Los Angeles metropolitan area as a separate nation, it would have the world’s eleventh largest gross national product, that is
(B) if the Los Angeles metropolitan area is counted as a separate nation, it has the world’s eleventh largest gross national product, that being
(C) if the Los Angeles metropolitan area were a separate nation, it would have the world’s eleventh largest gross national product,
(D) were the Los Angeles metropolitan area a separate nation, it will have the world’s eleventh largest gross national product, which is
(E) when the Los Angeles metropolitan area is counted as a separate nation, it has the world’s eleventh largest gross national product, thus
I have multiple doubts in this question.
First of all, why ‘were’ is used with a singular subject ‘area’ ? Does the same grammatical rule apply for area as it applies for ‘You’ or ‘One’.
Secondly, if option ‘D’ has ‘would’ instead of ‘will’, then will it be the correct option ?
Option A uses the hypothetical subjunctive. You can read an excellent article here –
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-grammar-the-subjunctive-tense/
“were” and “would” here are used to talk about situations that are not true. (LA county is NOT counted as a separate nation). the structure is similar to this –
If I were rich, I would donate money to charity (I am NOT rich).
@Aravind Thank you Aravind. That is great info. Learned a new lesson in SC.