Conditional III

[susan]

Test No. incompl/elem-11 "Conditionals", question 10

If I ......... very hard, I would have been able to stop smoking.

(a) try
(b) would have tried
(c) had tried

Test No. incompl/elem-11 "Conditionals", answer 10

If I had tried very hard, I would have been able to stop smoking.

Correct answer: (c) had tried

Your answer was: incorrect
If I would have tried very hard, I would have been able to stop smoking.
_________________________

I want to know why my answer was wrong

[Torsten]

This is a Conditional III construction which has two clauses, one that expresses a condition and one that describes the result. The condition clause starts with the word if and is followed by a Past Perfect construction. (If I had come earlier.) As you know the past perfect is made up by a form of have + past participle of the verb and the past participle of come is come.
The second clause of the third conditional describes a result and consists of would + have + past participle.
Sometimes the if-clause appears first and sometimes the would-have clause appears first in a sentence:

If I had left earlier I would have caught the train.
I would have caught the train if I had left earlier.

Let me know if this makes sense to you.

TOEIC listening, photographs: A walking frame

[Alan]

Hi Susan,

Conditionals usually follow a certain pattern like this;

If I try hard, I will/shall succeed
If I tried hard, I would/should succeed
If I had tried hard, I would/should have succeeded

Unfortunately You have mixed up two forms. Have a look at the piece I wrote under English Lessons on this site with the title Conditionals.

Good luck

A
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Alan]

Hi Susan again,

Aren't you lucky? You've got two answers for the price of one!!

A
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[Admira]

Hello Torsten
On the conditional test I've scored 8 out 10,and the second time I scored 10 out 10.
I was sure about I would had tried,but it was incorrect,the right one is I had tried.
Bye bye
Admira
_________________
To be or not to be ,that is the question.

[Cornel]

Hy Torsten & Alan & all the others
There must be o problem with this question. I choose the right answer (Would have tried) for almost 5 times, but when I reviewed my scores always showed me that I marked a wrong answer (had tried). It must be something wrong.

Tks for the forum! It's great.

[Cornel]

Hy Torsten & Alan & all the others
There must be o problem with this question. I choose the right answer (Would have tried) for almost 5 times, but when I reviewed my scores always showed me that I marked a wrong answer (had tried). It must be something wrong.

Tks for the forum! It's great.

[Cristina.ro]

Hi Cornel,

There is nothing wrong with this test.
The right answer here is 'had tried' as it is indicated once you have hit the ''check your score'' button. From what you are saying, you chose one of the two wrong options -- 'would have tried'.

I guess you have not read either of their posts (#2 or #3, in this thread) -- Torsten and Alan have already explained how conditionals work in English.
_________________
Just remember... if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off!

[Cornel]

I read just now the posts of Alan and Torsten and it's clear now. Tks my compatriot! :)

[Bentoruiz]

Hy Torsten & Alan:
I imagine ninety per cent is a good score...
It's a pity that almost everybody was wrong about the answer at the last question. I was too.
congratulations for this article by Alan: I'm a man and the reading has been really emotional.
thanks
Mauricio56

[Alan]

Good for you!

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Passive Voice