Lesson Thirty

inverted conditionals

Do you remember when you studied conditional sentences in Lessons Twelve, Thirteen, and Fourteen? In this lesson, I’ll show you a few new ways to express yourself in the form of conditional sentences that begin with the words were, should, and had.

• Were I a wealthy man, I would help as many people as possible with my wealth.
• Should you ever need assistance, don’t hesitate to call.
• Had we known it was going to rain, we wouldn’t have gone to the park for a picnic.

Notice that the words "were," "should," and "had" go at the beginning of a sentence or a clause, and that this placement does not create a question.

The verb "had," in particular, is one that many people use when forming these types of sentence. This video provides some examples of that:

Sentences that begin with "should" are commonly heard or read when working with directions or conditions:

Click here to move on to the Violet Level.