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Well, I was reading a book when I read this sentence

Should you fail to do so, we would have no choice but to take further action.

I want to know what type of conditional is this? The if statement part is in present (First conditional) and the result part is using would (Second conditional). Is it a inverted conditional or a mixed conditional or something totally different?

Should we win your prize we would like to build a new school close to our production center.

To me it seems like a structure to show politeness.

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  • In my understanding it is a kind of second conditional. Where the main clause is ( would + infinitive) and the conditional which is in simple past in type 2 is denoted by should (past form of shall). Do you think I am right? Sep 14, 2020 at 23:30
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    The first part of the sentence is hypothetical, not really present. You can replace 'should' with 'in the event that' or 'if you were to' if that makes it clearer. Sep 15, 2020 at 0:35
  • @Micah Windsor....So it means should can be used to replace simple past in hypothetical situations? Whereas it is not possible to do so in real situations. Sep 15, 2020 at 1:34

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"Should" emphasises the hypothetical nature of the condition and makes it seem less likely or more remote.

Should you fail to do so, we would have no choice but to take further action.

This is the inverted form of "If you should fail...".

It can equally be expressed as "If you failed..." or "If you were to fail...".

In the above example, it is similar in function to a so-called "second conditional", but there are other cases where it is close in function to the "first conditional":

Should your child become anxious or nervous about any activity, it is a good idea to inform the team-leader. ( Cambridge )

This could be expressed as "If your child should become..." or "If your child becomes" (present tense). Similarly:

Should we win your prize we would like to build a new school close to our production center.

This could be expressed as "If we should win..." or "If we win". ("If we won" wouldn't work as well here.)

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