I __________ made arrangements had I __________ informed earlier. A. could have, been B. would have, being C. had, have D. had been, been

GATE 2017 · General Aptitude · Tenses · medium

Answer: 'Could have' (first blank) and 'been' (second blank) — completing the inverted third conditional correctly. Answer: A.

1. Restore normal word order: The sentence inverts the if-clause: 'had I ___ informed' = 'if I had ___ informed'. The main clause needs a modal perfect.
2. Fill the first blank (result clause): 'I ___ made arrangements': needs modal perfect. Options from A: 'could have'; from B: 'would have'; from C: 'had'; from D: 'had been'. Both A ('could have') and B ('would have') are valid modally, but the second blank will determine.
3. Fill the second blank (if-clause passive): 'had I ___ informed': needs 'been' to form the past perfect passive 'had been informed'. Option A provides 'been', option B provides 'being' (wrong — 'being' gives present participle, not past perfect).
4. Select the answer: Only option A ('could have, been') produces a grammatically correct sentence: 'I could have made arrangements had I been informed earlier.'