A lot of accidents ___________ if we are careful enough.
a) could avoid (b) could be avoid (c) could be avoided (d) could be avoiding.
They want you to choose (c) I guess. but even (c) does not sound right. I am thinking of "can be avoided" or "could have been avoided" . Because the last part of the sentence is "...ARE careful enough". So what is the rule (if any) about mixing tenses. like present and past. / past participle.
jeezz . why does English have so many tenses and rule. and exeptions on the rules. I have no idea why it is the most spoken language in the world.
2007-10-18 18:40:23 · 4 answers · asked by K.Kombuis 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
You think this is bad? Try German!!
C is correct because "could be" is somewhat conditional; that is, we could avoid accidents (but not always). The "are" is plural because "we" is plural.
2007-10-18 18:47:11 · answer #1 · answered by Howard H 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's C because no other form of "avoid" would fit in this sentence. I agree that "can be avoided" makes sense, but so does could be. They are both correct, just different tenses.
2007-10-18 19:33:17 · answer #2 · answered by neni 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He's right.
2007-10-18 18:50:37 · answer #3 · answered by masince1986 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i totally agree with you!!!!!!
2007-10-18 18:49:17 · answer #4 · answered by einah1422 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋