General English C1 · Lesson 5B

Grammar Bank

The rules behind this lesson — form, use, model sentences and the mistakes to avoid.

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Grammar focus of this lesson

unreal uses of past tenses

1 structure

Unreal uses of past tenses
Past forms that carry no past meaning at all.
I've got this
Rules & form
- ›After wish / if only for present regret.
- ›After it's time, would rather, as if / as though + past.
- ›Second and mixed conditionals.
- ›Were is preferred to was in formal unreal clauses.
Examples
- “It's time we rethought the model.”
- “I'd rather you didn't mention the figure.”
- “She talks as though she owned the place.”
Watch out · It's time to go vs It's time we went — both correct, different structures.
Your own example