Would have been?

Question

Is 'would have been' only ever used in the third conditional?
Are there any other uses?
Are the sentences below correct?
1) "Thankfully life moves on otherwise we would have stuck in one place."
2) "Thankfully life moves on otherwise we would have been stuck in one place."

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

HaddieIs 'would have been' only ever used in the third conditional?Are there any other uses?

No and yes.

HaddieAre the sentences below correct?1) "Thankfully life moves on otherwise we would have stuck in one place."2) "Thankfully, life moves on; otherwise, we would have been stuck in one place."

1) No
2) Yes, with proper punctuation. See above.

Note:
... otherwise we would be stuck in one place— present
... otherwise we would have been stuck in one place— past

'otherwise' makes this an implied third conditional:

... otherwise, we would have been stuck in one place.
... if not, we would have been stuck in one place.
... if life did not move on, we would have been stuck in one place.

CJ

Haddie · Answer

'...we would have been stuck in one place' refers to a time in the past, I wonder if it makes sense in a sentence like this because it basically implies 'if life hadn't moved on we would have been stuck in one place' (at some point in the past). So considering that, wouldn't the more appropraite statement be 'Thankfully, life moves on; otherwise, we would be stuck in one place'
Could you give me an example of 'would have been' in a sentence that is not a third conditional.

CalifJim · Answer

HaddieSo considering that, wouldn't the more appropriate statement be 'Thankfully, life moves on; otherwise, we would be stuck in one place'

Yes. Absolutely.

HaddieCould you give me an example of 'would have been' in a sentence that is not a third conditional.

Implied third conditionals are not, strictly speaking, third conditionals because they have no if-clause.

Tom would have been a fool to invest in that company.

Otherwise, it might be a guess of some kind about the past. would have been ~ probably was.

— When did World War II begin?
— I'm not sure. I guess it would have been some time around 1940.

— How old were you when "9-11" happened?
— I think I would have been 25.

CJ

Haddie · Answer

Thank you so much CJ. That was very helpful.

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJimNote:... otherwise we would be stuck in one place— present... otherwise we would have been stuck in one place— past

Hi CJ,
What is your thought on using " .... moved on " rather than the simple form "moves on". Would it make more sense with past tense?

Thankfully, life moved on, otherwise we [could be ] / [ could have been ] stuck here (forever). My questions are these:
1) Would this be a grammatically legal mixed conditional ?
2) Would you reject the use of past form of "moved" and prefer the present simple?
Thank you for your comment in advance.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousWhat is your thought on using " .... moved on " rather than the simple form "moves on". Would it make more sense with past tense?

Yes. 'moved' goes with 'would have been' because both are past in meaning.

AnonymousThankfully, life moved on, otherwise we [could be ] / [ could have been ] stuck here (forever).

Only 'could have been' makes sense to me.

Anonymousgrammatically legal mixed conditional ?

There's no if-clause, so technically it's not a conditional at all. But the mix of tenses is 'legal' in any case. It's just a matter of whether a mix of tenses makes sense, and I don't think it does in this sentence.

CJ

Would have been?

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