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I'm a bit confused about the use of verbs in a conditional sentence. This is what I'm trying to say:

  • Your career would be in better shape if you would spend as much time worrying about your own performance as you do about other people's work.

I'm wondering about the tenses of the verbs after the 'if'. It sounds better to use past perfect tense, because you make a statement about what shape something would be in now, if you had done things differently in the past:

  • Your career would be in better shape if you had spent as much time worrying about your own performance as you have about other people's work.

However, I want to state a general rule, not a past occurrence. Could the first sentence work like that?

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This sentence would normally be expressed using a second conditional: 'Your career would be in better shape if you spent as much time....' It could also be expressed using a first conditional: 'Your career will be in better shape if you spend as much time.....' However if you are referring to a past event you would use the third conditional: 'Your career would have been in better shape if you had spent as much time .....'

Stella

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I believe that you should write "... in better shape if you were to spend ...". The use of "were" implies a possibility, something that is a matter of conjecture.

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  • Thanks, so the sentence becomes: Your career would be in better shape if you were to spend as much time worrying about your own performance as you do about other people's work. Correct?
    – redfuse
    Commented Aug 12, 2015 at 7:58
  • Yes, I believe that to be correct.
    – Anton
    Commented Aug 13, 2015 at 9:45

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