Third Conditional

Article excerpt · target grammar marked

Singer's response was characteristically direct. "If we had not waded in, we would have allowed a child to die." By that logic, had his critics followed the argument honestly, they would have reached the same uncomfortable conclusion: proximity is morally irrelevant.

Grammar Reference · Third Conditional

Third conditional —

If Singer had not written the essay, the debate would have looked very different. — past unreal condition + past unreal result

Third conditional —

If she had known the consequences, she would never have agreed. — retrospective regret or blame

Inversion in third

Had governments acted sooner, millions would have been saved. — formal register; omit if, invert auxiliary

Common error

If he would have known... ✗ → If he had known... ✓ — never use would in the if-clause

01Exercise 1 — Form · Write the Correct Form

Third Conditional

1.If Singer his essay in a different decade, effective altruism might have emerged much later.

2.If governments poverty as a collective moral failure earlier, billions of dollars in aid would have been redirected.

3.She would have donated far more if she the principle of marginal utility.

4.If critics Singer's analogy more seriously, the prevailing view might have shifted.

5.Had the concept of effective altruism academic support, it would have remained a fringe idea.

6.The debate would have looked very different if Singer a line at national borders.

02Exercise 2 — Transform

rewrite with the new structure

1.Because Singer wrote the essay, effective altruism exists today.

2.Governments did not act early enough, so millions suffered preventable consequences.

3.She did not know about marginal utility, so she did not change her giving habits.

4.Critics did not engage with the argument honestly, so the debate stalled.

03Exercise 3 — About You

in your notebook

Personalise: complete five sentences about yourself using the target grammar.

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