Mixed conditionals combine two types of conditional patterns. Two common patterns consist of the third conditional in the if clause and the second conditional in the main clause, and the second conditional in the if clause and the third conditional in the main clause. They are used to express a past condition and present result and also to express a present condition and past result. Let us look at examples.
The following sentences combine the third conditional and the second conditional:
If I had won the lottery, I would be very rich now.
If I hadn't quit my piano lessons, I might play the piano really well.
The next two sentences combine the second conditional and the third conditional:
If I were younger, I would have gotten the job.
If I didn't have so much work, I would have gone to the party.
Conditional sentences can be classified into four types: type 0, type 1, type 2 and type 3. However, mixed conditionals are also common. As illustrated in the examples, they often combine the second and third conditionals.
No comments:
Post a Comment