Past
Unreal Conditionals
Form
If+Past Perfect, would+have+past
participle
If+Past Perfect, Could/might+have+past
participle
Positive:
If I had know the anwer, I would have passed
the test.
They’d (would) have been here hours
ago if they’d (had) followed my directions.
Negative:
If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes,
I wouldn’t have believed it.
If you’d listened to me, you wouldn’t
have gotten lost.
Questions:
What would you have done if you’d
been me?
If the hotel had been full, where
would you have stayed?
Meaning
and Use
•We
use past unreal conditionals to express an impossible situation in the past and
its probable result. It didn’t happen, and now it’s too late to change the
result.
If I’d
known you were coming, I would have cokked you a meal
•Unreal
conditionals beginning with “If I had been you” can be used as an indirect way
of giving advice. Unreal conditionals sound softer than modals like should
have.
Advice with Past Unreal Conditionals Advice with Modals
If I
had been you, I would have left early You should have left early
• When the if clause comes first, it is followed by a comma. When the main clause is first, there is no comma and then is not used.
If I
had known the answer, (then) I would have passed the test.
I would have passed the test if I had known
the answer.
•
Either clause or both clauses can be negative
If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I
wouldn’t have believed it.
If you’d listened to me, you wouldn’t
have gotten lost.
• Practice
Past
wishes
Form
Simple present +(that) Past Perfect
I
wish I had taken a vacation
Simple
present +(that) Could have + Past Perfect
I wish you could have come to the
show
That
is often omitted after wish, but is always implied.
Meaning
and Use
• Past
wish sentences refer to past situations that did not occur. They express a
desire to change something that happened in the past
I wish you could have seen the movie. ( You didn’t see the movie.)
I wish you could have seen the movie. ( You didn’t see the movie.)
• When you use a past wish sentence, you express regret or about a past situation
I wish
I had gone to the meeting. I completely
forgot about it. I wish someone had called to remind me.
•
Notice the use of past perfect or past modal short forms when a wish clause
follows but.
I didn’t take a vacation last year, but I
wish I had.
I invited Joe to the party, but I wish I
hadn’t.
I didn’t go to the show, but I wish I could
have.
• If
only is often used in place of a past wish to express strong regret. If only
sentences focus on the wish to change a negative outcome.
If
only I hadn’t lost my wallet!!
•Practice
http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/wish-past-verb
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/wish/exercise2.html
http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/wish-past-verb
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/wish/exercise2.html
•Lessons
online
