Choose the option that best completes the sentence. But for the timely intervention of the police, the thief ______ by the angry mob.

Choose the option that best completes the sentence.

But for the timely intervention of the police, the thief ______ by the angry mob. 

Answer Details

To correctly complete the sentence, we must understand the structure and the context. The phrase "But for" indicates a situation where something was prevented. It sets up a conditional statement of something that did not happen because of an intervention.

Here, the intervention of the police prevented a potential action by the mob. Thus, we use a conditional perfect tense to express this unreal past condition.

The correct option to complete the sentence is: would have been lynched. This phrase, "would have been lynched," is in the past perfect conditional tense. It describes an action that could have happened in the past but did not occur due to an intervening factor, in this case, the timely intervention of the police.