Select the option that will improve the underlined part of the given sentence. If I was the queen, I would give a handsome sum towards education.

Correct — D. The main clause is would give, and would plus a bare infinitive marks an imagined, unreal present.

That fixes the pattern. The second conditional runs If + past form, then would + verb, and with the verb be the past form used is the subjunctive were, for every subject.

So the if-clause has to read 'If I were the queen', option (d). The speaker is not the queen, and were is the form that marks the condition as contrary to fact.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  will be the queen — will be the queen is future indicative and belongs with will in the result clause, not with would. An if-clause stating a condition does not take will at all.
• (b)
  would be the queen — would be the queen puts the conditional marker in both halves. Would belongs in the result clause, so the sentence is left with two results and no condition.
• (c)
  have been the queen — have been the queen is present perfect, which reports something real from past to present. It cannot pair with would give, and a real fact is the opposite of the imagined situation the sentence sets up.

SSC conditionals are decided by matching the two halves, and there are two patterns to keep apart.

First conditional, a real possibility: If + present simple, then will + verb, as in If he runs, he will get there in time.

Second conditional, an imagined or contrary-to-fact present: If + past form, then would + verb. With be, that past form is the subjunctive were, used for I, he, she and it as well as for we and they.

So the moment you see would in the main clause you already know the if-clause needs a past form, and with be that form is were.

Key facts

• The second conditional pattern is If + past form, then would plus a bare infinitive.
• The past subjunctive of be is were for all subjects, giving If I were and If he were.
• An if-clause stating a condition takes neither will nor would.

Common traps

• Carrying the spoken form If I was into the exam, where the subjunctive were is what is keyed
• Putting would inside the if-clause because would already appears in the sentence

No directly related past PYQ was found.