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BrilliantWriter Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Tense after "If I were..."

Salaam and hi.
Could you please tell me what is the correct tense to use after I start a sentence using "If I were.....". I often notice people use the word 'would". But in this case, If i want to omit the word 'would', how would my sentence be? In what tense should I describe details that go after it?

My example is --> If I were an actress, I was so famous. There was a year when I was nominated for a Best Actress Award but unfortunately, this friend of mine had to go on a three-day camp in the middle of a jungle where phone signal was out of reach. Therefore, he didn't get to watch the award ceremony on TV. Suddenly, when he was out of the forest, he called me and straightly asked me, "Hey, did you win the Best Actress Award?"

Just an example. Please correct it with explanation. Thank you Emotion: smile
  

Top answer

It's hard to think of a sentence where 'If I were. ' is not followed by a modal such as would, should, might, could. The simple past as in your attempted solution doesn't work, BrilliantWriter.

— Rover_KE

  • It's hard to think of a sentence where 'If I were.
  • ' is not followed by a modal such as would, should, might, could.
  • The simple past as in your attempted solution doesn't work, BrilliantWriter.
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7 Answers
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It's hard to think of a sentence where 'If I were. . .' is not followed by a modal such as would, should, might, could.

The simple past as in your attempted solution doesn't work, BrilliantWriter.
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Past Unreal Conditional

These two form is both possible. Be careful about "comma" when 'if' comes first.

[If ... Past Perfect ..., ... would have + past participle ... ]
[... would have + past participle ... if ... Past Perfect ...]
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Examples:

A: What city would you have chosen if you had decided to move to the United States?
B: I would have chosen Seattle.

I would have read more as a child if I hadn't watched so much TV.
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"If I were" is a classic example of a second conditional which is used for imagining things. The other part of the sentence is often would plus an infinitive form. "If I were rich, I would buy a mansion." I'm not rich. I will not buy a house. "If I were a girl, I could wear skirts." I am not a girl. I can't wear skirts.
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Present Unreal Conditional

[If ... Simple Past ..., ... would + verb ...]
[... would + verb ... if ... Simple Past ...]

If I owned a car, I would drive to work. But I don't own a car.
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My example is --> If I were an actress, I was so famous. This sentence is not grammatically correct. You can say any of these:

1) When I was an actress, I was famous.
2) If I were an actress, I could / might / would be famous.
3) If I had bee
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I don't understand the connection of this story to your first sentence. If this one friend didn't watch the award ceremony, and you had won the award, does that make you not famous?

The clause "if I were an actress" means that you are not an actress. If you are not an actress, then you would not be nominated for such an award.
Actually, I was trying to ma
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