Question

'If his latest movie had been a commercial success, the actor would have made enough money to sponsor his next movie.'

Based only on the above sentence, which one of the following statements is true?

• A. The actor will certainly sponsor his next movie.
• B. His latest movie was a commercial success.
• C. The actor made enough money from his latest movie.
• D. His latest movie was not commercially successful.

Hint:

'If + had been, would have' describes an imagined past that did not happen, so the real situation is the opposite of the if-clause.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

This sentence is a third conditional, built with 'if + past perfect' in the if-clause and 'would have + past participle' in the main clause ('If his latest movie had been..., the actor would have made...'). This structure talks about a hypothetical past that did not actually happen, and it always carries the built-in meaning that the stated condition was false in real life.

1. The actor will certainly sponsor his next movie: the sentence talks about what would have happened in the past under a condition that did not hold, it makes no promise about the future at all. This cannot be concluded.
2. His latest movie was a commercial success: a third conditional's if-clause states the opposite of what really happened. Saying 'if it had been a success' tells us it was not a success, so this statement contradicts the sentence.
3. The actor made enough money from his latest movie: the sentence says he 'would have made enough money', meaning this did not actually happen. So he did not make that money.
4. His latest movie was not commercially successful: this matches the real-world implication of the third conditional exactly. Because the condition ('had been a success') is presented as unreal, the actual state of affairs is the opposite, the movie was not a commercial success.

Since a third conditional always signals that its if-clause condition was not true, the fact that we are told what 'would have' happened if the movie 'had been' a success tells us, in reality, it was not one.

Let's summarize:

• 'If + past perfect, would have + past participle' describes an unreal past condition.
• The truth of the real world is the opposite of what the if-clause states.
• Here, that means the movie was not a commercial success, matching option (D).

The only statement that can be concluded is that his latest movie was not commercially successful.