Mixed conditional sentences in English

The more you elevate your level of English, the more complex sentence constructions you want to say or write. Though, to achieve this, it is necessary to master several grammatical rules, particularly the formation rules of Mixed Conditional sentences in the English language. They are essential for communication at the Advanced level.

Mixed Conditionals sentences: a few words about types and what they are like in English

First of all, it is important to know that conditional sentences in English are one of the types of complex sentences, where the subordinate clause describes a certain condition, and the main clause discusses its result or consequences. There are four types of conditional sentences, but today we will only focus on the mixed type. Their peculiarity and complexity lie in the fact that the subordinate and main clauses of the sentence are used in different tenses.

There are two types of Mixed Conditional sentences in the English language:

• Sentences with the subordinate clause in the Past Perfect and the main clause in the present, with verbs such as would, could, or might with a bare infinitive without the particle to. An example of this kind of Mixed Conditional is: “You would already be fluent in English if you had signed up for language courses last year”.
• The subordinate clause conveys general information or a fact about something that does not have any specific time span, and is therefore used in the Past Simple. The main clause of this type of conditionals, according to the rules, is constructed in the Past Perfect using the word would. For example: “I would have agreed to a photoshoot on a skyscraper if I wasn't afraid of heights”. 

Pay attention that in these conditionals, as in all others, a comma is almost never placed between the main and subordinate clauses. In particular, it is never placed if the sentence begins with the main clause. When the sentence begins with if, the main clause is preceded by a comma: «If you had spent less time in the sun, your skin would not burn». 

How to acquire the grammatical features of Mixed Conditionals and the rules of their construction with Booyya

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