Learn English – Would been vs would have been

conditional-constructionspast-tense

Having a hard time telling the difference between these, and which ones are wrong.

1) 0.5 seconds later and he would been dead.

2) 0.5 seconds later and he would have been dead.

3) 0.5 seconds later and he would be dead.

Anyone kind enough to explain how to use these 3 forms?
Thanks!

Best Answer

1) Wrong. One way to explain this is 'been' is the past participle of be and should be followed by modal auxiliaries. Other is after would, a basic form of a verb/ infinitive form should be stated.

2)Correct

3)Correct

Editing to describe the 2nd and 3rd.

2) This outputs an imagination/ assumption about a past incident; 0.5 seconds later, if not for something, he would have been dead. Fortunately, he is not.

3) This is more like an assumption about a present incident. Here, there's a possibility that he is dead after 0.5s.

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