Confusion About Conditional Sentences

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Confusion about conditional sentencesDiscussion in 'English Only' started by jomb, Jul 19, 2013.

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Hi dear teachers;

I would like to know the meaning of the following sentences and also how

they differ form one another in meaning?

Could you please do that If you had time?

A 1). If I hadn't been working all day I wouldn't have been so tired.

2). If I hadn't been working all day I wouldn't be so tired.

3). If I weren't working all day I wouldn't have been so tired. [Is it a correct

sentence construction wise or meaning wise? What meaning does it convey?

]

4). If I weren't working all day, I wouldn't be so tired. [I think construction

wise, the sentence is OKAY. But then again, I'm not quite sure of the

meaning of this sentence . Also, would there be any change in meaning if

we put "be" between "weren't" and "working"? For instance, in #A3- "If I

weren't BE working all day, I wouldn't have been so tired" and in #A4- "If Iweren't BE working all day, I wouldn't be so tired". ].

I understand the #A1 as "I was indeed working all day and consequently I

was so tired". Am I correct teachers?

But for #A2, I don't completely understand the meaning, I'm confused about

it.

will be waiting for your inputs, teachers.

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ombJunior Member

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jomb, Jul 19, 2013 #1

Thanks.

jomb said:

Your first two examples don't sound good to me. I may be wrong.

There are lots of previous threads on mixed conditionals:

Conditional (2)/mixed: If he is a qualified doctor, he should have been able

to ...

Conditional (mixed): If I had time, I would have cleaned the house.

Conditional (mixed): the ceiling of this room ----f it ---- heavily outside

Conditional (mixed)? He would be given the death penalty if he

found guilty.

Conditional (mixed)? If you were taller you would play basketball as a

professional.

Conditional (mixed)? If clause conditional; main clause conditional.

Conditional (mixed)? If I hadnt broken my leg, I would be playing in the

next game.

Conditional (mixed)? if you were paying attention to your assignment, it

wouldn't have happened.

Conditional (mixed)? Were they less rich, they would have been ruined.

Conditional (or Mixed Conditional)

Conditional, Mixed conditional or third conditional

Counterfactuals: Conditional III or Mixed Conditional?

mixed conditional

Mixed conditional [If he had put ... there are ....]

Mixed conditional If clauses ---

Mixed Conditional Patterns

mixed conditional sentence

Mixed conditional sentence

mixed conditional sentence for future

The (pure, not mixed) 3rd Conditional with The Past Simple

Slovak

morior_invictus

Senior Member

A 1). If I hadn't been workingall day I wouldn't have

been so tired.

2). If I hadn't been workingall day I wouldn't be so

tired.

3). If I weren't working all day I wouldn't have beenso

tired. future ---> past;But I am going to work all day and that is why I wasso

tired.


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morior_invictus, Jul 19, 2013 #2

Biffo, Jul 19, 2013 #3

jomb, Jul 19, 2013 #4

The mixed conditional "future-future"

jomb said:

Good luck with this one!!!

It's easy for native speakers but I wouldn't like to try and explain it!

If I weren't BE working... (impossible construction)

The following are possible:

If I hadn't been working all day last Wednesday, I wouldn't have been so

tired [last Wednesday].

If I hadn't been working all day today, I wouldn't be so tired [now].

If I weren't working all day today [and I still am working], I wouldn't be so

tired [now]. (subjunctive followed by conditional)

Thank you so much m_i for providing these links, I will surely go through all

of them one by one.

Thank you very much Sir for trying to remove my confusion. I wish I could

have a detailed explanation on "Conditionals", though.

England

English - England

BiffoSenior Member

...A 1). If I hadn't been working all day I wouldn't have

been so tired.

2). If I hadn't been working all day I wouldn't be so tired.

3). If I weren't working all day I wouldn't have been so

tired. [Is it a correct sentence construction wise or

meaning wise? What meaning does it convey? ]

4). If I weren't working all day, I wouldn't be so tired. [I

think construction wise, the sentence is OKAY. But then

again, I'm not quite sure of the meaning of this sentence

Hindi

omb

Junior Member


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jomb, Jul 19, 2013 #5

Anyone way, I am grateful to for your help.

Would you kindly help me with the following sentences? I want to change

them into conditional sentences (Present real/ unreal and Past

real/ unreal).

Here are the sentences:

(1). I had been working for 5 hours when my boss came in and told me to

stop working. I was tired

(2). I were very busy yesterday. I couldn't attend her birthday party.

(3) I have lived here for 10 years. I know all the people living here very

well. [Here, I think the conditional sentence should be "If I weren't

be living here FOR 10 YEARS, I wouldn't know all the people living here

very well". But the proble with me is I read

in my Grammar book that we can't use "a time period/ a duration" like in

our example "for 1o years" with continuous

tenses such as present continuous, past continuous etc.

If we say "had", for example; If I HADN'T LIVED / HADN'T BEEN LIVING here

for 10 years, I would ....", then doesn't it locate the sentence in the past?

I'm really confused. ]

What if I said If I haven't lived here for 10 years, I will not know all the

people living here very well. (I think this isn't

referring to the Second or Third conditional. please correct me if I am

wrong. )

Thank you once again.

Sorry, but providing conversions of multiple sentences into conditionals is

not what we do in this forum.

Hindi

ombJunior Member

What we do in the English Only forum

We answer specific questions about words or phrases in a

complete sentence with context and background in a

respectful, helpful and cordial manner.

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Confusion About Conditional Sentences