Fill in the Blanks : Had they submitted the proposal earlier, they ___ the funding.

Correct — B. The trigger is the inverted opening Had they submitted, which means 'If they had submitted'. That past perfect marks an unreal past condition: the third conditional.

Its result clause takes would have + past participle.

So: Had they submitted the proposal earlier, they would have received the funding → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  would get — would get is the result form of the second conditional, which pairs with a past simple condition: If they submitted, they would get. The condition here is past perfect, so the result needs would have.
• (c)
  had received — had received puts the past perfect in the result clause. The past perfect belongs to the condition, Had they submitted, and the result of an unreal past needs a modal: would have received.
• (d)
  will have received — will have received is the future perfect. Will belongs to real conditions about the future, while the inverted Had marks a past that did not happen.

Conditional inversion drops 'if' and moves the auxiliary to the front. 'If they had submitted' becomes Had they submitted, with no change in meaning.

The third conditional describes a past that did not happen: they did not submit early, and they did not get the funding.

If + past perfect → would have + past participle
Had + subject + past participle → would have + past participle

Key facts

• Third conditional: If + past perfect in the condition, would have + past participle in the result.
• Inverted third conditional: Had + subject + past participle, with if dropped.
• The third conditional describes a past that did not happen.
• Could have or might have can replace would have in the result clause.

Common traps

• Picking had received to match the had in the condition, when the past perfect belongs only to the if-clause
• Picking would get because it sounds natural in speech, without checking that the condition is past perfect

No directly related past PYQ was found.