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Help the adventurer document her near-disaster in the Amazon rainforest. Select ALL the prepositional phrases that correctly and logically complete this implied conditional sentence.
_______________ the sudden intervention of the local guides, our expedition would have ended in absolute tragedy.
The correct answers are But for, Without, and Save for.
Prepositional phrases like But for, Without, and Save for are elegant C2-level ways to imply a negative condition ("If it hadn't been for...").
Were it not for is incorrect here because of a tense mismatch. "The sudden intervention" was a completed past event, and the result (would have ended) is past unreal. Therefore, we would need the past perfect equivalent: Had it not been for.
Due to is logically incorrect; it means "caused by," which would imply the guides' intervention actually caused the tragedy, contradicting the hypothetical "would have ended" framing!