Complete the conditional sentence expressing an unreal past situation (Third Conditional):
'If the engineers had detected the hairline fracture earlier, the bridge collapse ______ avoided.'
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. could have been
- Step 1: Third conditional sentences talk about hypothetical past events: 'If + past perfect' requires 'would/could/might + have + past participle' in the result clause.
- Step 2: The passive modal construction is 'could have been avoided'.
Answer
could have been.
Why not the others: 'will have been' is future perfect; 'would be' is second conditional (present hypothetical); 'could be' lacks the past perfect modal auxiliary.
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