Mixed conditionals

for Business English

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Let’s get started
with a warm-up
 Discuss the questions.

➔ What project(s) are you working on right now?

➔ What might go wrong when working on a project?
➔ Do you draft a contingency plan (aka Plan B) for every
project?
➔ When a project ends, do you have a meeting to discuss
what went well and what went wrong?

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It’s grammar time!
 Read a short dialogue from a final project meeting and find all the
conditional sentences. [part 1/2]

Peggy: Who would like to start?

Manuela: I can! So, all in all, I think we’ve done pretty well. But, of course, there are some things
worth pointing out. During our next project, we definitely need to read the project brief
more carefully. As you all know, this time we didn’t and because of this, we faced some
serious problems. For example, if we hadn’t missed the functionality requirement
described in the last point of the brief, we wouldn’t be working on it now.

John: Yeah, I agree with you. What I would also like to add is that we have to work on setting
achievable milestones. I feel that we are sometimes a little over-optimistic. If we were
more realistic when planning projects, we would have achieved all of the project’s goals
on time.

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 Read a short dialogue from a final project meeting and find all the
conditional sentences. [part 2/2]

Peggy: Sure, that’s something we need to work on, but, let’s face it, it’s not easy to change
personality. Nevertheless, there is one more thing I want to discuss. We need to
remember that every project is a joint effort by the whole team and not just one person.
For sure, we need to give thanks to you, Manuela. I feel that if you weren’t such a good
team player and hard worker, we wouldn’t have done so well.

Manuela: Oh, come on, we all did our best! Next time, we just need to spend more time on a
contingency plan because it can really save our lives! This time, however, we didn’t have
any, and that’s why we had so many delays. If we had had a complete and
well-thought-out Plan B, we could just celebrate our success now and not be thinking
about how we are going to finish the project in just a week.

John: You’re right Manuela! It should give us some food for thought.

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The conditional sentences from the text.

● [...] if we hadn’t missed the functionality requirement described in the last point
of the brief, we wouldn’t be working on it now.
● If we were more realistic when planning projects, we would have achieved all
of the project’s goals on time.
● [...] if you weren’t such a good team player and hard worker, we wouldn’t have
done so well.
● If we had had a complete and well-thought-out Plan B, we could just
celebrate our success now and not be thinking about how we are going to
finish the project in just a week.

Do you know what type of conditional sentences these are and when to use
them? Not sure? Discover the rules in the next slides.

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Study the table below and choose the correct words (present or past)
in the rule sections. [part 1/2]

MIXED CONDITIONALS
SAMPLE SENTENCES

● If we hadn’t missed the functionality requirement described in the last point of

the brief, we wouldn’t be working on it now.
● If we had had a complete and well-thought-out Plan B, we could just celebrate
our success now and not be thinking about how we are going to finish the
project in just a week.

THE RULE

We use if + past perfect, would/could/might + infinitive to talk about

PRESENT/PAST results of a hypothetical situation or condition in the
PRESENT/PAST. 8
Let’s see the correct words.

MIXED CONDITIONALS
SAMPLE SENTENCES

● If we hadn’t missed the functionality requirement described in the last point of

the brief, we wouldn’t be working on it now.
● If we had had a complete and well-thought-out Plan B, we could just celebrate
our success now and not be thinking about how we are going to finish the
project in just a week.

THE RULE

We use if + past perfect, would/could/might + infinitive to talk about

PRESENT
PRESENT/PAST results of a hypothetical situation or condition in the
PAST
PRESENT/PAST. 9
Study the table below and choose the correct words (present or past)
in the rule sections. [part 2/2]

MIXED CONDITIONALS

SAMPLE SENTENCES

● If we were more realistic when planning projects, we would have achieved all of
the project’s goals on time.
● If you weren’t such a good team player and hard worker, we wouldn’t have done
so well.

THE RULE

We use if + past simple, would/could/might + have + past participle to talk about

PRESENT/PAST results of a PRESENT/PAST situation or condition.
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Let’s see the correct words.

MIXED CONDITIONALS

SAMPLE SENTENCES

● If we were more realistic when planning projects, we would have achieved all of
the project’s goals on time
● If you weren’t such a good team player and hard worker, we wouldn’t have done
so well.

THE RULE

We use if + past simple, would/could/might + have + past participle to talk about

PRESENT/PAST
PAST results of a PRESENT/PAST
PRESENT situation or condition.
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Now, we’ll put it into
practice!
Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verbs in
brackets.
1. If we ……………………………… (leave) earlier, we …………………………………………………… (sit) on the plane now.

2. If you ……………………………… (be) so lazy, you …………………………………………………… (finish) your task by now.

3. We ……………………………… (be) in a better financial position now if you ……………………………………………………

(not reject) that job.

4. If he ………………………………..………. (not steal) money from the company, he ………………… still …………………
(work) for us.

5. If you ……………………………… (not have) such a good memory, we …………………………………………………… (not

find) that place again.

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Let’s check the answers.

1. If we ……………………………… (leave) earlier, we ……………………………………………………

had left would be sitting(sit) on the plane now.

2. If you ………………………………
weren’t (be) so lazy, you ……………………………………………………
would have finished(finish) your task by now.

3. We …………………………...……
would be(be) in a better financial position now if you …………………
hadn’t(not reject)
rejected
that job.

4. If he …………………….
hadn’t(not steal) money from the company, he ……………………..
stolen would still …………………
work(work)
for us.

5. If you ……………..… (not

didn’t wouldn’t have(not
have) such a good memory, we ……………………………………….…
have found
find) that
place again.

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Rephrase the sentences using mixed conditionals.

EXAMPLE:
You didn’t finish your work on time because you are a procrastinator.
If I weren’t such a procrastinator, I would have finished my work on time.

1. You were late for a kick-off meeting. Now, you don’t know the details of
the project.

2. You should be participating in a business meeting now, but you are not.
Your taxi didn’t come on time.

3. You are a really good worker. You got promoted.

4. You don’t know German well enough. You didn’t get a new job because
the company’s language is German.

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It’s speaking time!
Choose one box in the next slide, finish the sentence you will see so
that it is a mixed conditional sentence and continue the story by
giving two or three more sentences. Go back, choose another box
and repeat the process.

EXAMPLE: If he hadn’t stolen money from the company...

If he hadn’t stolen money from the company, he would still work for us.
Unfortunately, he was too greedy and that made him a criminal. I really miss Stan.
Actually, he was such a nice guy. I wonder whether he will ever find a job again in
finance.

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Click a box to uncover the beginning of a sentence to finish.

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15

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If I didn’t believe my friend,

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We wouldn’t have so many
clients now

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If my partner were less
stubborn,

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If I hadn’t met my business
partner,

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If I hadn’t lived in Paris,

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If they had left earlier,

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If I spoke better English,

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If our manager hadn’t got
us a deal,

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If I were a millionaire,

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If they hadn’t committed
the crime,

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If he hadn’t interrupted me,

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If I hadn’t studied law,

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She wouldn’t be the CEO of
our company

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If we had finished on time,

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I wouldn’t be a manager now

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Thanks!