NDA (II) 2024 General Ability Test · Question 23 of 141

Correct — B, 'I wouldn't buy that dress'. 'If I were you' is the fixed second-conditional formula for giving advice: the if-clause uses the past subjunctive 'were', and its result clause pairs with 'would' — so 'I wouldn't buy that dress' is the standard, idiomatic completion.

• (a)I shouldn’t buy that dress — Switching to 'should' changes it from the hypothetical result 'would' to advice/obligation; it is not the standard result-clause pairing with the subjunctive 'were' that the sentence sets up.
• (c)I weren’t buying that dress — 'weren't buying' repeats a past-continuous form in the result clause, which cannot serve as the consequence of the hypothetical; the result needs 'would + base verb'.
• (d)I mustn’t buying that dress — 'mustn't' must be followed by the base verb ('buy'), not '-ing'; 'mustn't buying' is ungrammatical.

Second conditional for advice: 'If I were you' (past subjunctive 'were') takes a result clause with 'would/wouldn't + base verb' — the set phrase for offering advice.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the correct completion: If I were in your position, I ______ that offer.

  • (a)will accept
  • (b)would accept
  • (c)am accepting
  • (d)must accepting

  Answer(b) would accept — the subjunctive 'were' pairs with 'would + base verb' in the result clause.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the correct completion: If I were you, I ______ him again.

  • (a)wouldn’t trust
  • (b)won’t trust
  • (c)didn’t trusted
  • (d)mustn’t trusting

  Answer(a) wouldn’t trust — the advice formula 'If I were you' takes 'wouldn't + base verb'.