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Editor: Douglas Adams |
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Past Real Conditionals Past Real Conditionals are less common, and typically have the simple past in both the dependent and the independent clause(though the past continuous is also possible), and are used to express conditional habits in the past. 
For example,Tom used to have an eating problem in the past in which he was addicted to burgers. Thus, it was his habit to eat a burger anytime he saw one. If Tom saw a burger, he ate it. This same example can also be expressed in an inverted form. Should Tom have seen a burger, he ate it. As with the other real conditionals, we essentially replace if with should and change the verb to its base form. In the case of the past real conditional, we must use the base verb form "have" followed by the past participle to retain the past meaning. Should someone wish to, the past real can also be written as a passive sentence if there is an object by using the base form of the verb "have" + "been" in our passive formula. For example,... If a burger were seen by Tom, he ate it. This example can be inverted in the same way... Should a burger have been seen by Tom, he ate it. Up Next... Inverted Present Unreal Conditionals |
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