NDA (II) 2023 GAT Q19: If you were to (a) / come to Chennai to settle down (b) /

Q: What is the answer to NDA (II) 2023 GAT Q19?

C. Correct — C, 'it will be the best possible decision.' The opening 'If you were to come' frames an imagined, not-yet-real situation, and a clause of that kind is answered with 'would', not 'will' — the segment should read 'it would be the best possible decision.' Leaving 'will' in place welds a hypothetical condition to a factual prediction, and that mismatch is the fault the item plants.

NDA (II) 2023 General Ability Test · Question 19 of 146

Question text verified against the official NDA question paper.

If you were to (a) / come to Chennai to settle down (b) / it will be the best possible decision. (c) / No error (d)

(a)If you were to
(b)come to Chennai to settle down
(c)it will be the best possible decision.
(d)No error

Answer

Why

Correct — C, 'it will be the best possible decision.' The opening 'If you were to come' frames an imagined, not-yet-real situation, and a clause of that kind is answered with 'would', not 'will' — the segment should read 'it would be the best possible decision.' Leaving 'will' in place welds a hypothetical condition to a factual prediction, and that mismatch is the fault the item plants.

Why the others are wrong

(a)If you were to — Clean. 'Were to' followed by a base verb is the standard way of framing a hypothetical condition, and 'were' is correct with 'you'.
(b)come to Chennai to settle down — Clean. 'Come' is the base form that 'were to' demands, and 'to settle down' is an ordinary purpose infinitive.
(d)No error — The main clause carries 'will' where the imagined condition calls for 'would', so the sentence does contain an error.

Concept

An unreal condition built with 'If ... were to ...' is completed by 'would' plus a base verb. 'Will' belongs with an open, real condition of the type 'If you come to Chennai, it will be a good decision.'

The two halves of a conditional have to agree. Once the writer picks 'were to', the sentence has moved into the imagined, and sliding back to 'will' in the second half breaks the pattern. A quick test is to read the main clause straight after the opening — 'If you were to come ... it will be' jars, while 'it would be' settles.

Key facts

'If + subject + were to + base verb' marks a purely hypothetical situation, however likely it may be in real life.
The matching main clause takes 'would', 'might' or 'could' plus a base verb.

Study next

Real versus unreal conditional sentences'Were to' and the subjunctive use of 'were'Would, could and might in main clausesTense agreement across the two halves of a sentence

Common traps

Marking segment (a) because 'were' looks like a plural verb sitting with 'you'.
Accepting 'will' because moving to Chennai sounds like a realistic plan rather than an imagined one.

Asked as a spotting-errors item in which the fault is a 'will' standing in the main clause of an unreal condition.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Spot the error. If I were to (a) / apply for the post today (b) / I will get the appointment letter next month. (c) / No error (d)
- (a)If I were to
- (b)apply for the post today
- (c)I will get the appointment letter next month.
- (d)No error
Answer(c) I will get the appointment letter next month — an imagined condition needs 'I would get'.
practice — not a real PYQ
Fill in the blank. If she were to accept the offer, she __________ move to Pune next month.
- (a)will
- (b)would
- (c)will have
- (d)shall
Answer(b) would — 'were to' in the if-clause requires 'would' in the main clause.