What are inverted conditionals?
Inverted conditionals involve some inversions, which means that the order of the sentence changes.
-To invert the first conditional we use ‘should’ and omit ‘if’.
If the day gets hotter, we’ll go to the beach.
Should the day get hotter, we’ll go to the beach. (the verb ‘gets’ now becomes ‘get’)
-To invert the second conditional we use ‘were’ and ‘to + verb’.
If you bought that jacket, it would look good with the boots
Were you to buy that jacket, it would look good with the boots.
Negative form: were + subject + not + to + verb = were you not to attend…
When the verb to be is used, we use ‘was / were + subject’.
If I were the president, I would make a lot of changes.
Were I the president, I would make a lot of changes.
-To invert the third conditional we use ‘had‘ and omit ‘if’.
If I had supported you, this wouldn’t have happened.
Had I supported you, this wouldn’t have happened.
Negative form: had + subject + not + past participle = had you not arrived…
Read more about conditionals and types of conditionals here.