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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!
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.
I don't know how late I am, but I want to reply this:
One way to explain this is 'been' is the past participle of be and should be followed by modal auxiliaries.
I think it is easier to explain this by using rule says that 'been' can only be used after 'have' in any form of this verb. That means first sentence is truly wrong.
