Read the text and answer the question.

Last year, the agency launched a new online portal. If the security audit had been completed earlier, the system would have been released two months sooner. Bec

Question

Read the text and answer the question.

Last year, the agency launched a new online portal. If the security audit had been completed earlier, the system would have been released two months sooner. Because the audit was delayed, several features were added only after the portal was already in use. The final report was published on the agency’s website, in line with the principle of publicity in Article 37 of Brazil’s Federal Constitution.

Question: In the second sentence, which option correctly explains the grammar and meaning of the conditional construction?

Accepted Answer

It is a third conditional about an unreal past situation: “had been completed” is past perfect passive, and “would have been released” is the perfect conditional in the passive voice, expressing a different past result that did not happen.

Answer

It is based on the principle of publicity set out in Article 37 of Brazil’s Civil Code, which requires agencies to publish audits before releasing digital systems.

Answer

It states a real past cause-and-effect: it implies the audit was completed earlier, so the system was in fact released two months sooner.

Answer

It is a first conditional about a future possibility: “had been completed” is used to refer to a future audit, and “would have been released” predicts a future release date.

Answer

It does NOT express an unreal past condition; instead, it reports a completed past event and uses the passive voice only for stylistic emphasis, without changing meaning.

Questão de Inglês