The Third Conditional
The third conditional is used to talk about events, activities or situations that didn't take place or are impossible.
An example of the third conditional in use would be:
If she had worked harder, she would have gone to university.
When we look at this sentence in detail we can see two clauses: the 'if' clause at the beginning of the sentence and the second clause which tells us the outcome of the condition.
The words 'if she had worked harder' tell us that she didn't work very hard but what is the consequence of her not working as hard as she could have? That's right, she would have gone to university, but unfortunately because she didn't work hard enough, she didn't go to university and that is not something she is able to change.
Let's look at another example of the third conditional in use.
If they had gone to bed earlier, they would not have been tired.
Can we go back into the past and change this outcome? No, because that would be impossible.
Were you able to see a pattern in the way both of the sentences were formed?
Let's take a closer look at how the third conditional is structured.
If + subject + past perfect + subject + would + have + past participle = The Third Conditional
Another example of the third conditional would be:
If they left the house earlier, they would not have missed the train.
You can see the use of the word 'if' followed by the subject which is this case is 'they' followed by the word ‘had’ and then the past participle 'left', followed by the subject again, then the words 'would' and 'have' and the past participle 'missed'.
A tip to remember about the third conditional is that it refers to past events which have resulted in current consequences.
If she had left earlier, she would have been on time.
The past event is that she left late and the outcome or result of this action was that she was not on time.
Here’s a video recap for you to watch regarding the third conditional.
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