SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 17 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 13 of 98

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Select the most appropriate option that can substitute the underlined segment in the given sentence. If no substitution is required, select ‘No substitution’. If it had not rained, they would not postpone the programmes.

(a)would be postponed
(b)no substitution
(c)would not have postponed
(d)would not postponed

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The trigger is the if-clause. If it had not rained is past perfect, which fixes the sentence as a third conditional: an unreal condition in past time.

The third conditional pairs past perfect in the if-clause with would have + past participle in the main clause.

'would not have postponed' is exactly that, so option (c) completes it: If it had not rained, they would not have postponed the programmes.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
would be postponed — would be postponed is passive, but the subject is 'they' — the people who did the postponing, not the thing postponed. It also leaves 'the programmes' stranded, because a passive verb takes no object.
(b)
no substitution — Leaving would not postpone puts a present-time result under a past-time condition. Past perfect after 'if' cannot pair with a bare 'would + verb'.
(d)
would not postponed — would not postponed is not a form at all. A modal takes the bare infinitive 'postpone', or 'have' plus a participle, never a past form on its own.

Concept

Conditionals sort by how real the condition is and when it sits.

First: If it rains, they will postpone. Real, future.
Second: If it rained, they would postpone. Unreal, present or future.
Third: If it had rained, they would have postponed. Unreal, past and now unchangeable.

The tense of the if-clause is the signal and it settles the main clause with no room for taste.

Mixed conditionals do exist — 'If it had not rained, they would not be waiting now' — but they need a present-time result to justify the mix. Here the result is past, so the plain third conditional is what the sentence calls for.

Key facts

Third conditional: if + past perfect in one clause, would have + past participle in the other.
The if-clause of a standard conditional never takes 'would'.
A modal is followed by a bare infinitive, so 'would postponed' is impossible.
The keyed phrase is active, keeping 'they' as the doer, which the original subject requires.

Study next

The four conditional patterns and the tense that signals eachMixed conditionals: a past condition with a present resultInverted conditionals without 'if': Had it not rained, they would not have postponed

Common traps

Choosing 'no substitution' because 'would not postpone' sounds fluent read aloud.
Slipping 'would' into the if-clause while rewriting the sentence.
Switching to the passive when the sentence keeps its original subject.

Conditionals arrive as substitution items and as improvement items. The second conditional is tested at 12 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.7, where 'If I was the queen' has to become 'If I were the queen'.

The first conditional is tested at 25 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.18, where 'If he runs, he (get) there in time' takes 'will get'.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.