modal

[curious]

Which is correct? Is there anything wrong with the sentence?

She ---- whatever cars she liked, but she usually preferred Hondas.

A) had bought
B) could buy
C) is supposed to buy
D) could have bought
E) has bought

[Tdol]

D) is the best for me, though B) works. 'chose' would be a better verb than 'preferred'. IMO.

[curious]

thank you, tdol.

[rewboss]

I have to disagree. To me, D) implies that she had the chance to buy whatever car she wanted, but that chance has now passed; and so the bit about preferring Hondas is a non-sequiteur (a posh word meaning: "Has nothing to do with what we're talking about").

The sentence means that in former times, she was in a position to buy whatever car she wanted -- but now she's not earning as much, or the price of cars has gone up. The simple past of "can" -- "could" -- makes more sense to me here.

[Tdol]

I took it as meaning that Hondas were her choice though she could afford much better.