INVERTED CONDITIONALS

INVERTED CONDITIONALS

1. FIRST CONDITIONAL

   • Replace “if” with “should.”
   • Replace the verb with the bare infinitive. (e.g. “goes” →” go,” “has” → “have,” am/is/are → “be”)
   • If he remembers his own name, we’ll be able to help him.
   • Should he remember his own name, we’ll be able to help him.

2. SECOND CONDITIONAL

   • for Unlikely Future Events
     • Replace “if” with “were.”
       • Change the verb to the infinitive form (with “to”).
     • If he pushed the button, we’d all have problems.
     • Were he to push the button, we’d all have problems.
   • for Unreal Present States
     • Remove “if.”
       • Invert subject and verb. (“I was” → “was I”)
         • If necessary, change “was” to “were.”
     • If I was ridiculously rich, I think I’d still work.
       • Were I ridiculously rich, I think I’d still work.

3. THIRD CONDITIONAL

   • Delete “if.”
     • Invert the subject and the auxiliary. (“we had” → “had we”)
   • If we’d arrived sooner, we wouldn’t have missed the beginning.
     • Had we arrived sooner, we wouldn’t have missed the beginning.

4. NEGATIVE

   • Add “not” after the subject.
     • Should Batman not come, we’re in big trouble. But don’t worry, he always comes.