Dear All,
I need some clues to understand hypothetical conditional sentences.
Please help me out.
These Forming lists are from my text book.
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1.to express a present or future hypothetical or contrary-to-fact situation.
Condition Clause , Result Clause
simple past form,+would,could,might+base form or base form+ing
past progressive form,+would,could,might+base form or be+base form+ing
could,would+base form,+would,could,might+base form
Examples:
If I were you,I would save more money.
If Mike were not working in the dining hall,he could not afford college.
If Mike could find his library card,he would start his term paper.
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2.To express a hypothetical situation in the past.
Condition Clause , Result Clause
past perfect form,+would,could,might+have+past participle or been+base form+ing
past perfect progressive form,+would,could,might+have+past participle or been+base form+ing
Examples:
If Gali had turned her lab report in on time,she would have received the full
ten points on it.
If Scott had been paying attention in class,he would not have been asking
his friends how to do the assignment last night.
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This example sentence below makes me confused.
If Lan had not refused to lend us his car,we could have been driving to the beach right now.
I understand that this sentence's event has already taken place in the past,
but why does the result clause contain 'right now'?
I can understand if the result clause is 'we could be driving to the beach right now.'
And all result clause forming contain 'would,could,might'.
Which meanings should I take? modals or past forms?
I need some clues to understand hypothetical conditional sentences.
Please help me out.
These Forming lists are from my text book.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.to express a present or future hypothetical or contrary-to-fact situation.
Condition Clause , Result Clause
simple past form,+would,could,might+base form or base form+ing
past progressive form,+would,could,might+base form or be+base form+ing
could,would+base form,+would,could,might+base form
Examples:
If I were you,I would save more money.
If Mike were not working in the dining hall,he could not afford college.
If Mike could find his library card,he would start his term paper.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.To express a hypothetical situation in the past.
Condition Clause , Result Clause
past perfect form,+would,could,might+have+past participle or been+base form+ing
past perfect progressive form,+would,could,might+have+past participle or been+base form+ing
Examples:
If Gali had turned her lab report in on time,she would have received the full
ten points on it.
If Scott had been paying attention in class,he would not have been asking
his friends how to do the assignment last night.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This example sentence below makes me confused.
If Lan had not refused to lend us his car,we could have been driving to the beach right now.
I understand that this sentence's event has already taken place in the past,
but why does the result clause contain 'right now'?
I can understand if the result clause is 'we could be driving to the beach right now.'
And all result clause forming contain 'would,could,might'.
Which meanings should I take? modals or past forms?