IPMAT Indore 2025 · Verbal Ability · Question 11
IPMAT Indore 2025 previous year question on Conditional Sentence, with the answer and a step-by-step solution.
Choose the option that best improves the underlined portion of the sentence.
If the President knew that his allies would let him down so suddenly, he would have handled them with the greatest care.
- AHad the President knowledge that his allies would let him down
- BHad the President known that his allies would let him down
- CIf the President could know beforehand that his allies would let him down
- DIf the President knew that his allies can let him down
Answer & solution
Answer: Option B
Spot the mismatch. The main clause is “he would have handled” — a would have + past participle form. That is the signature of the third conditional, used for unreal situations in the past.
The rule.
\text{If}+\underset{\text{had known}}{\underset{⏟}{\text{past perfect}}}, \underset{\text{would have handled}}{\underset{⏟}{\text{would have}}}+\text{past participle}
The original uses knew (simple past), which belongs to the second conditional (unreal present). Mixing the two is the error.
The inverted form. Had the President known… is a standard, slightly formal inversion of If the President had known… — both are correct, and only the inverted version appears among the options.
Why the others fail:
Option 1 — “Had the President knowledge” uses have as a main verb meaning possess, which breaks the conditional structure.
Option 3 — “could know” is not a past perfect form.
Option 4 — keeps knew, and adds can (present) alongside a past-tense main clause.
Answer: Option 2
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