Can you help me understand this sentence by breaking down it to its elements. I actually get what it means but I need help to understand the logic behind its grammer. (Tense, Verb Forms etc.) The sentence is below:
If he had lived he would have crucified us all
This is a complex sentence.
"he would have crucified us all" - this is the main or independent clause
"if he had lived" - it is the subordinate or dependent clause. It cannot form a sentence by itself. It needs the main clause to make sense.
The subordinate clause is here a conditional clause. It gives the condition for the action in the main clause to happen. "Crucification" can happen only if someone "lives". So it is a conditional adverbial clause.
The sentence describes an unreal situation in the past. "he did not live". Hence "he could not crucify us".
If he had lived, he would have crucified us all.
If : conditional
He : subject
had : verb in past simple tense
lived : verb in past participle tense
, : comma to separate sentences
he : subject
would : verb in past tense (used as auxiliary)
have : verb in infinitive tense
crucified : verb in past participle form
us : pronoun
all : pronoun
