Learn English – On the right usage of “had they been …”

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I need to know if my usage of the term had they been. This is a phrase:

Had they been aware of the danger, they would perform regular checks

I want to say if they have been aware of the danger, they would rather performed regular checks.

I am not sure if I am suing the had they been phrase correctly. How can I correctly use the phrase had they been.

Best Answer

"Had they been" (aware of the danger) is fine, but you need need to change the tense of what comes next. "Had... been" is the past perfect progressive tense, used to indicate a continuous action that was completed at some point in the past. The inversion "had they been" suggests a negative (they had not been aware of the danger). The result of that action needs to be described using a past modal. Past modals are often called called “modals of lost opportunities.” The simple past just tells what happened. Past modals tell what could have, would have, and should have happened.

Had they been aware of the danger, they would have performed regular checks.

Past perfect progressive

Could have should have would have

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