if + PAST PERFECT + MODAL VERBS – English Grammar Profiler

C1 point 112 in CLAUSES/conditional is defined as:

Conditional subordinate clauses with ‘if’ + the past perfect simple and modal verb + ‘have’ + ‘-ed’ in the main clause, to talk about imagined situations in the past, often with regret.

*Note the same definition with ‘would‘ is listed at B1!  Basically, this means that for this to be C1, it can’t contain ‘would’.

iWeb doesn’t allow long searches such as:

_VM have_VVN * if * had _VVN

So we can start this with half the search and then manually look through the data for the other half.

1 IF I HAD KNOWN 3261

If I had known where you were, I might have told her.

listen

(most of these are ‘as if’) 2 IF NOTHING HAD HAPPENED 1126

3 IF YOU HAD ASKED 1069
4 IF YOU HAD TOLD 941

If I had known, if you had told me, I could have hit that column before they ever made it to us.

listen

5 IF I HAD GONE 828 6 IF I HAD SEEN 745 7 IF HE HAD KNOWN 640 8 IF I HAD USED 612 9 IF I HAD TAKEN 608 10 IF HE HAD SAID 554 11 IF I HAD MADE 553 12 IF THEY HAD KNOWN 522 13 IF SOMEONE HAD TOLD 464 14 IF THIS HAD HAPPENED 455 15 IF WE HAD KNOWN 442 16 IF YOU HAD READ 441 17 IF I HAD TRIED 421 18 IF I HAD GOTTEN 421 19 IF HE HAD SEEN 406 20 IF IT HAD HAPPENED 403 21 IF YOU HAD SAID 395 22 IF I HAD READ 366 23 IF HE HAD TAKEN 366 24 IF I HAD STAYED 360 25 IF THEY HAD SEEN 352 26 IF I HAD WANTED 349 27 IF I HAD BOUGHT 349 28 IF YOU HAD USED 333 29 IF YOU HAD BOUGHT 318 30 IF YOU HAD TAKEN 314 31 IF I HAD SAID 313 32 IF I HAD THOUGHT 301 33 IF HE HAD LIVED 297 34 IF YOU HAD KNOWN 294 35 IF HE HAD GONE 284 36 IF THEY HAD TAKEN 277 37 IF THAT HAD HAPPENED 271 38 IF WE HAD USED 264 39 IF HE HAD STAYED 262 40 IF WE HAD GONE 261 41 IF I HAD ASKED 259 42 IF I HAD FOUND 253 43 IF I HAD WAITED 249 44 IF IT HAD GONE 249 45 IF YOU HAD SEEN 244

46 IF IT HAD COME 240

47 IF YOU HAD INVESTED 236 

The following example is B1 because it uses ‘would’

48 IF HE HAD MADE 232 49 IF I HAD PAID 229 50 IF I HAD WRITTEN 225 51 IF HE HAD HEARD 205 52 IF I HAD GIVEN 198 53 IF I HAD KEPT 197 54 IF SHE HAD KNOWN 176 55 IF THEY HAD MADE 174 56 IF YOU HAD MADE 171 57 IF THEY HAD GONE 165 58 IF I HAD HEARD 153 59 IF I HAD CHOSEN 146 60 IF I HAD STARTED 145 61 IF YOU HAD GONE 131 62 IF THEY HAD USED 130 63 IF HE HAD WANTED 130 64 IF I HAD PUT 118 65 IF THEY HAD STAYED 114 66 IF I HAD LEFT 114

67 IF YOU HAD PURCHASED 109

68 IF HE HAD USED 109 69 IF GOD HAD WANTED 106 70 IF WE HAD TAKEN 105 71 IF THEY HAD COME 104 72 IF YOU HAD CHOSEN 103 73 IF HE HAD PLAYED 103 74 IF I HAD CONTINUED 102 75 IF THEY HAD RECEIVED 99 76 IF YOU HAD PAID 97 77 IF THEY HAD HEARD 97 78 IF THEY HAD CHOSEN 96 79 IF I HAD SPENT 95 80 IF HE HAD COME 94 81 IF THINGS HAD GONE 94 82 IF SOMEONE HAD SAID 92 83 IF I HAD TOLD 92 84 IF HE HAD GOTTEN 92 85 IF I HAD LISTENED 92 86 IF YOU HAD PUT 91 87 IF I HAD LET 89

88 IF THEY HAD KEPT 88

*We have deleted ‘would’ results.

4 MAY HAVE NOTICED 20383 6 MAY HAVE HEARD 17388 7 MAY HAVE SEEN 15937 10 COULD HAVE MADE 13815 12 SHOULD HAVE KNOWN 12941 13 COULD HAVE GONE 12427 15 COULD HAVE USED 11349 20 MAY HAVE MISSED 9936 23 MUST HAVE COMPLETED 8677 24 MAY HAVE COME 8493 25 MAY HAVE CHANGED 8445 26 MAY HAVE MADE 8363 27 COULD HAVE GOTTEN 7940 29 COULD HAVE HAPPENED 7231

30 MAY HAVE TAKEN 7161

31 MAY HAVE CAUSED 7038 

*not one example in 1000 lines (checked manually) match our grammar!

33 COULD HAVE TAKEN 6711 34 SHOULD HAVE TAKEN 6706 35 COULD HAVE IMAGINED 6690 36 MAY HAVE FOUND 6664 37 SHOULD HAVE GONE 6439 39 SHOULD HAVE MADE 6207 40 MIGHT HAVE NOTICED 6193 43 MIGHT HAVE SEEN 6136 48 MIGHT HAVE MADE 5866 50 SHOULD HAVE SAID 5760 51 MIGHT HAVE MISSED 5723 56 SHOULD HAVE SEEN 5259 57 COULD HAVE COME 5192 59 MAY HAVE LOST 5035 60 MAY HAVE GOTTEN 5019 61 MIGHT HAVE HEARD 5006 63 MAY HAVE GONE 4983

64 COULD HAVE SAVED 4879

68 MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED 4528

*although ‘may have contributed’ is not in the string of grammar we are searching for, it helped locate the following sentence.

I was acting out because of boredom and my teachers told my mother that I could find 101 things to do with a pencil and writing with it was not one of those things, and it was even suggested that being held back may have contributed to my ADHD. Ability grouping could have greatly benefitted me even if all they had done was technically place me in a higher-grade level... that would have effectively allowed me to continue learning while other students my age caught up to me…

70 MUST HAVE TAKEN 4331 71 MAY HAVE USED 4327

72 MAY HAVE OCCURRED 4307

73 SHOULD HAVE RECEIVED 4276

74 COULD HAVE CAUSED 4267

75 MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT 4265 76 MUST HAVE FELT 4246 82 MAY HAVE HELPED 3987 84 MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED 3940 85 MAY HAVE THOUGHT 3926 88 MIGHT HAVE GONE 3858 90 COULD HAVE SEEN 3674 91 MAY HAVE BECOME 3653 93 MAY HAVE PLAYED 3617 94 MAY HAVE STARTED 3592 95 SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN 3565 98 MIGHT HAVE TAKEN 3495

100 MAY HAVE READ 3476