GATE CSE 2013 | Question: 59

Question

Were you a bird, you ___________________ in the sky.

• A. would fly
• B. shall fly
• C. should fly
• D. shall have flown

Comments

Why is (D) wrong ? Please someone explain.

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Useful links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditional_sentence

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/conditional-sentences-was-instead-of-were/

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If you strip away the imaginary condition ("Were you a bird") and just look at the phrase on its own, "The bird shall have flown" is perfectly correct.

It is a tense called the Future Perfect. You use it when you are standing in the present, looking forward to a specific point in the future, and talking about an action that will be already finished by that time.

 

The correct option is would fly.

The full, correct sentence is:

"Were you a bird, you would fly in the sky."

Why this is the rule (Inverted Second Conditional)

This sentence uses a slightly advanced, formal structure called an inverted conditional.

Normally, you would write this using an "if" clause:

• "If you were a bird, you would fly in the sky."

When we drop the word "if", the verb were moves to the front of the sentence ("Were you a bird..."). Even though it looks a bit unusual, it follows the exact same rules as a standard Second Conditional:

1. The Condition (Imaginary/Unreal): It uses the past subjunctive (were) because you are not actually a bird; it's a completely hypothetical scenario.

2. The Result: An imaginary condition in the past tense must be followed by would + base verb in the result clause.

Why the other options are incorrect:

• shall fly / should fly: These do not match hypothetical, imaginary scenarios. "Shall" is used for future certainty, and "should" implies obligation or advice.

• shall have flown: This mixes a future/present modal ("shall") with a past perfect structure ("have flown"), which is grammatically incorrect.

Answer 1

In conditional sentences if your conditional sentence (if I ...) is in past perfect then in resultant sentence 'would have' will be used.

If I had extra clothes, I would have donated them.

When conditional sentences are imaginary sentences like if I were a cricketer.....then in resultant sentences we have to use 'would'.

References: 

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditional_sentence
• https://www.grammarly.com/blog/conditional-sentences-was-instead-of-were/

Correct Option: A would fly.

Answer 2

A. would fly

Answer 3

The answer is definitely

A...... would fly

Answer 4

D-shall have flown

Comments

A is the answer. You can see the official GATE key here. 

http://gatecse.in/wiki/Previous_Year_GATE_Question_Papers_and_Keys