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Editor: Douglas Adams |
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Past Unreal Conditionals The basic formula for a past unreal conditional has the past perfect or past perfect continuous tense in the dependent clause and a modal [usually would, could, should, or might plus "have" + "p.p." in the independent clause as can be seen in the diagram below. 
Inverted Past Unreal Conditionals: We can invert all the forms of the past unreal conditional using the same standard formula we used with the present unreal... delete "if" and move the first part of the verb to the front of the sentence. For example, If Jessica had brought fewer burgers, Tom would not have made such a pig of himself. In its inverted form, this example can also be expressed... Had Jessica brought fewer burgers, Tom would not have made such a pig of himself. In the passive, this example becomes... If fewer burgers had been bought by Jessica, Tom would not have made such a pig of himself. ...and can be inverted to become... Had fewer burgers been brought by Jessica, Tom would not have made such a pig of himself. In each of these examples, the first part of the verb is still the word "Had", so only that word gets moved to the front of the sentence. Making the past unreal into the continuous doesn't change the way it is inverted in either the active or passive forms. For example, If had not been making a pig of himself, Jessica would not have left early. ...becomes... Had Tom not been making a pig of himself, Jessica would not have left early. Final Special Note: As can be seen in the example above, when inverting a present or past unreal conditional in the negative form, do not use a contraction. Next up... Back to the beginning of Inverted Conditionals | Back to the beginning of Conditionals |
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