Question

if it had not been for ..句型对吗

if it had not been for your timely assistance in giving me first aid,I fear that the consequences might have been much serious. 这句话的开头：if it had not been for...，这里对吗？是if it is not 的过去完成时？

Answer 1

本句的结构是——

条件状语从句：If it had not been for your timely assistance in giving me first aid, 如果当时在对我的急救的过程中没有你的及时帮助
主句：I fear that我恐怕
宾语从句：the consequences might have been much serious. 后果也许是非常严重的。

这是一句条件虚拟句。虚拟语气相当于汉语的“如果退一步来说”，既然是“退一步”，就需要把虚拟的时间推移到前一个时段。

如果是真实语气，这个句子应该是——

If it was not for your timely assistance in giving me first aid, I fear that the consequences may be much serious.

但是，事实上“你已经给予帮助”，而且也没有产生“严重的后果”，这种情况只不过是一种假设，因此上面的句子站不住脚，需要把它改为虚拟语气，也就是说需要把条件从句中的过去时态was not推移到表示过去的过去（即过去完成）的had not been，把宾语从句中表示将来的may be推移到表示过去将来完成的might have been，而主句I fear 本身就是真实情况，不需要虚拟，于是就成了当前的句子：

If it had not been for your timely assistance in giving me first aid,I fear that the consequences might have been much serious.

另外，if it is not 是现在时，对现在的虚拟只能推移到过去，变成 if it were not（虚拟语气即使是单数主语也得用 were，而不用 was）。意思成了“如果此刻在对我的急救的过程中没有你的及时帮助” ，这不符合具体情况。

Answer 2

正确

Answer 3

是的