Fill in the blank with most appropriate option:
If I ______ him, I would not have believed it.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
Correct Answer
hadn't seen
Explanation
This sentence is a third conditional sentence, which talk about imaginary situations in the past.
The rule for this structure requires using the past perfect tense (had or hadn't + third form of the verb) in the 'if' part of the sentence when the second part of the sentence uses would not have.
Since the second part contains 'would not have believed,' the blank must be filled with hadn't seen. This creates the correct past perfect structure.
The other options like 'wouldn't see,' 'didn't see,' and 'haven't seen' do not match the required past perfect grammar rule for this type of sentence.
Key Points
In English grammar, an 'if' statement paired with a 'would have' statement always requires the past perfect tense. This helps express that an entire scenario is a hypothetical guess about something that already happened in the past.