Mixed conditionals

Mixed Conditionals

Conditionals are sentences made up of two phrases that describe the result of an action that will or might happen (in the present or future) or might have happened but didn't (in the past).

Conditional tenses are used to speculate about what could happen, what might have happened, and what we wish would happen. In English, most sentences using the conditional contain the word if or whether.

They include 2 parts, the "if clause", which describes the condition to be fullfilled, and the "result clause" which explain what will happen, happened or could have happened if the condition was completed.

Different types of conditionals:

General truths and general habits : If + present simple , present simple If you add two and two, you get four.

Zero

Possible or likely things in the future: If + present simple, will + infinitive If it rains later, we'll stay at home.

First

Impossible things in the present / unlikely things in the future: If + past simple, would + infinitive. If I won the lottery, I would sail round the world.

Second

Things that didn't happen in the past and their imaginary results: If + past perfect, would + have + past participle If I had studied harder, I would have passed the exam.

Third

Mixed conditionals are a combination of the previously mentioned second and third conditionals. This means that the time in the if-clause is not the same as the time in the result. They talk about an unreal past condition and its probable result in the present.

Mixed conditionals are created by using the following structure: If + past perfect, would/could + infinitive verb.. If you had listened to my advice, you wouldn't be in this mess. If he had checked the map, he wouldn't be lost.