___ I permitted him to leave, I wouldn't have had any problem with him being absent, ___ I? A. Had, wouldn't B. Have, would C. Had, would D. Have, wouldn't

GATE 2019 · General Aptitude · Tenses · medium

Answer: C. Had, would

1. Determine the first blank using conditional inversion: The sentence is a third conditional. 'If I had permitted him to leave' becomes '___ I permitted him to leave' by dropping 'if' and inverting. The auxiliary must be 'Had'. Options B and D using 'Have' are incorrect — they would form present perfect, not past conditional.
2. Determine the second blank using question tag rules: The main clause contains 'I wouldn't have had'. Since 'wouldn't' is negative, the question tag must be positive: 'would I?'. Option A gives 'wouldn't' (same polarity — incorrect). Option C gives 'would' — correct positive tag.
3. Select the correct option: First blank = 'Had', Second blank = 'would'. This matches option C: 'Had, would'.