Past Unreal Conditionals and Wishes

Past Unreal Conditionals

• Past unreal conditionals sentences express imaginary situations that were not true in the past.

• Use the past perfect in the if-clause.

• Use would, might, or could + have + past participle in the result clause.

• The contraction of had and would with pronouns is 'd.

• Questions are formed in question word order (the main clause).

Examples:

  If I had owned a car, I would have driven to work. 

If you had asked me, I could have helped you.

Past Wishes

• Past wish sentences refer to past situation that did not occur. They express a desire to change something that happened in past.
• Express regret or dissatisfaction about a past situation.

• Use wish (that) + subject + had (not) + past participle

I wish I had visited the Panama Canal the last year.

Personal opinion: Conditionals can be confusing, but with a good understanding of them, we can talk with more confidence. I think that if I had known these conditionals before,  I could have spoken English very well.

 Paragraph

Dear Teacher May:

I'm writing you because I didn't send the last Excel homework yesterday. I wish I'd written before, but I'd been working late. The last week I was sick and I couldn't do the task. If I had had more time, I would have sent the homework. I don't want to lose the course. Would you mind if I sent the homework today?

Let me know your comments.

Thank you!

Links

Past Unreal Conditionals Exercises

Past Conditionals Review Exercises
Wishes in Past Exercises
More Wishes in Past Exercises