If it were not for, if it had not been for

[hirashin]

Dear native English speakers,

Would you please check my sentences again?

1 If it were not for your help, I would fail in the project.
ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ
2 If it had not been for your advice, I would not have finished my homework.
ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ
3 If it were not for air, no animal could live.
ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ
4 If it had not been for your advice, I would have failed in the exam.
ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ
5 If it had not been for the doctor, I would not be alive now.

6 If it were not for water, we couldn't live.

7 If it had not been for your advice, I would have lost the game.

8 If it were not for your help, we could not get to the town.

9 If it had not been for him, I would not be a math teacher now.

10 If it had not been for the accident, he would have become a famous player.

Thanks in advance.

Hirashin

 

[eeky]

They all look OK to me.

As you probably know, some of these can be said more simply using "without", but that doesn't make your versions wrong, and I guess you are specifically wanting to do exercises with "If it were/had not...".

"failed the exam" is more usual than "failed in the exam".

 

[jeisan]

#1 and #8 the second half of the sentence needs to be in past tense as well "the project would have failed" and "could not have gotten to the town"
Also #10 "had it not been for" sounds more natural to me.

 

[Mike Cash]

I can imagine situations where #1 and #8 would be fine just as they are. Depends on the context. Absent any context, though, my first instinct would be exactly the same as jeisan's.

 

[eeky]

#1 and #8 the second half of the sentence needs to be in past tense as well

In my opinion these are correct English as written. Of course, they need to be embedded in the right context, but then you could say that about any sentence quoted in isolation.

 

[hirashin]

Thank you all for your help, eeky, Jeisan, and Mike.

Jeisan wrote:
>#1 and #8 the second half of the sentence needs to be in past tense as well "the project would have failed" and "could not have gotten to the town"

Do you mean it should be changed into
"If it were not for your help,the project would have failed"?

I think it would be grammatically wrong. In my understanding of English
grammar, "If it had not been for your help, the project would have failed"
would be all right. Don't you think so?

Would "the project would have failed" sound more natural than "I would
have failed in the project"?

Hirashin

 

[eeky]

Do you mean it should be changed into
"If it were not for your help,the project would have failed"?

I think it would be grammatically wrong. In my understanding of English
grammar, "If it had not been for your help, the project would have failed"
would be all right. Don't you think so?

I find both these acceptable:

"If it were not for your help, the project would have failed."
"If it had not been for your help, the project would have failed."

However, I prefer the second one.

Would "the project would have failed" sound more natural than "I would
have failed in the project"?

They do not mean exactly the same. The first one is more impersonal, while the second is talking about the speaker's own performance.