Explanations » B1 Grammar Explanations » Third conditional – past unreal situations
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  • Third conditional – Grammar Chart

    Third conditional grammar chart explaining sentence structure for past hypothetical situations with examples like "If you had come to class, you would have passed the exam."

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    If clause and main clause

    We use the past perfect in the if-clause of a third conditional sentence to talk about an imaginary or hypothetical situation in the past, and we use would have, could have or might have + past participle in the main clause to talk about the result or consequence of that imaginary situation.

    • If you had come to class more often, you would have passed the test.
    • If he hadn’t taken his helmet, he could have died.
    • If the jacket had been a bit cheaper, I might have bought it.

    Comma

    As with all conditional types, we use a comma after the ifclause when it goes at the beginning of the sentence, but we don’t use a comma when the if-clause goes at the end.

    • If I hadn’t overslept, I wouldn’t have been late.
    • I wouldn’t have been late if I hadn’t overslept.

    Unless

    We can also use unless in conditional sentences to mean if … (not)

    • I wouldn’t have arrived on time unless I had taken a taxi.
    • = I wouldn’t have arrived on time if I hadn’t taken a taxi.