Conditional Verbs

[ohmie]

Hi I wanted to check whether I am using the right kind of conditional verb for this sentence.



If Mrs Lee were in the meeting, she would listen to the options of the students.

Or


If Mrs Lee were in the meeting, she would have listened to the options of the students.

Please let me know which of the two sentences is correct. Thank you!

 

[tedmc]

Sentence 1 is correct. It comes under the second conditional.

Sentence 2 is not correct. It will come under the third conditional if you change the first verb (were/be) to the past perfect (had been). Incidentally, the preceding sentence is in the first conditional.

Read here on the conditionals.

 

[jutfrank]

I'm sensing that what you really mean is this:

If Mrs Lee had been in the meeting, she would have listened to the options of the students.

The main reason I suspect that you mean this is your use of the meeting, where you seem to be referring to it as existing in past time. Is that right? Is the meeting in the past?

 

[Tdol]

It doesn't work in your example, but that kind of mixed conditional can work:

If I were you, I would have listened to the students.

The reason it works is that I am still not you, so saying If I had been you sounds odd.