mixed type

1 is past tense. It makes sense if you are talking about a past situation. "When I vacationed in Hawaii last year, I talked to some people there and my English would have been better if I had some native friends.

2 is present tense, and is talking about your present skills.

thank you Vorpar.

Diamondrg1- My English would have been better if I had some native friends.

In addition, #1 implies that you do not now have native friends; that if you had native friends now, you would have had native friends then.

This kind of structure is common with a stative verb in the main clause:

1. If I were more intelligent

MrPedantic

Diamondrg
1- My English would have been better if I had some native friends.

In addition, #1 implies that you do not now have native friends; that if you had native friends now, you would have had native friends then.

This kind of structure is common with a stative verb in the main clause

Sorry, D., I meant:

1. If I were more intelligent, I wouldn't have made such a mess of my exams.

Being "more intelligent" now implies that at the time of the exams, I would also have been "more intelligent".

"Being intelligent" (in this sense) is like "having naturally red hair": if you have naturally red hair now, you had naturally red hair in the past.

another wonderful explanation, thanks MrP.

(by the way here I used "another" thinking that it can't have a negative connotation. I hope it is positive or at least neutral.)

MrPedanticThis kind of structure is common with a stative verb in the main clause:

1. If I were more intelligent, I wouldn't have made such a mess of my exams.

(Intelligence now implies intelligence then.)

MrP

I see this as hypothetical, and the original as something that didn't happened in the past, am I right? So,
Coul

Hello Latin

1. My English would have been better if I had some native friends.

In this sentence, the implication is: "I have no native friends now; if I did have some native friends now, I would probably also have had the same native friends in the past; if I had had native friends in the past, my English would have been better."

Which is (in effect) your revised

Mr Pedantic wrote the following:

If I were more intelligent, I wouldn't have made such a mess of my exams.

I have a hunch that this borders subjunctive; because of the words 'If I were .......


Look at the following:

If I were you I would post 10 questions a day on to this forum. [ This is a subjunctive sentence. So the sentence in question too a

Hello Rex

I'd agree: the "were" in "If I were more intelligent" is certainly subjunctive.

MrP