About the use of "Had it not been for"

[Green Bean]

Dear Sir,

May I know which of the following sentences is correct? Why?

1. The problem would have resolved had it not been for our action to conduct more tests before and after further review and scrutiny.

2. The problem would not have resolved had it not been for our action to conduct more tests before and after further review and scrutiny.

What I mean is that the problem had been solved as a result of conducting more tests before and after further review and scrutiny.

Thank you.

 

[driftwood]

[I][FONT='inherit']The problem [B][U]would not[/U][/B] [B][U]have been [/U][/B]resolved [B][U]had it not been for[/U][/B] our action to conduct more tests before and after further review and scrutiny.[/FONT][/I]

The first point I would like to make is:

I would use a passive voice, would not have been resolved.


The second point is about different types of the conditionals.

'had it not been for' = 'if it had not been for'.

Therefore, we are dealing here with the third conditional.

The meaning of the sentence is:

As there was [I][FONT='inherit']our action to conduct more tests before and after further review and scrutiny, the problem was resolved.[/FONT][/I]

 

[Barb_D]

You are making your sentence more complicated than it needs to be.
We were able to solve the problem because of the tests we conducted.
or maybe:
The tests we conducted allowed us to solve the problem.

 

[Rover_KE]

Green Bean, 'Dear Sir' is an inappropriate way to begin your posts.

It is disrespectful of the female teachers who are here to help you.

In fact, no salutation is necessary at all. Just go ahead and ask your question.

Rover

 

[Green Bean]

Thank you for pointing out the mistake. From your comment, I believe the correct one is:
The problem would not have been resolved had it not been for our action to conduct more tests before and after further review and scrutiny.

OR: Instead of two "been", change it to:
"We would not have resolved the problem had it not been for our action to conduct more tests before and after further review and scrutiny.

Although it sounds complicated, it is still acceptable in written English.

By using a simpler structure, it would be:
We were able to solve the problem because of the tests we conducted.
or maybe:
The tests we conducted allowed us to solve the problem.