Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option.
________ for his great courage, all lives would have been lost.

• A. It had not been
• B. It wouldn't have seen
• C. Had it not been
• D. Wouldn't it have been

Answer 1

The correct option is C Had it not been

The given sentence is a mixed type conditional sentence. It gives an unreal past condition and its probable result in the present. It implies that but for his courageous actions, all people would have died. It shows that "he was courageous and all lives were not lost". Thus, we use the past perfect tense for the conditional clause as the verb tense of the main clause is present perfect continuous.
In this context, option C "had it not been" is the correct answer as (had been) indicates the correct tense sequence.
Thus, option C is the correct answer.
"It had not been" is not a condition at all. So, this is incorrect.
"It wouldn't have been" is also not a condition. So, this is incorrect.
"Wouldn't it have been" does not concur with the tense sequence of the given conditional.
Thus, option C is correct.