I am trying to understand what is the lexical difference between next sentences:
If I went to London, I would see the Thames
and
If I had gone to London, I would have seen the Thames
Answer
If I went to London, I would see the Thames.
can mean two things:
1 it describes a repeated past activity.
2 it describes a non-past irrealis. The speaker is not actually going to London.
and
If I had gone to London, I would have seen the Thames.
This is a past irrealis. The person did not, in the past, actually go to London.
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