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If we had had an alert… The third conditional for incident reviews

Students practice the third conditional in this B2 English for IT lesson plan by looking back at an app outage without blame.

Grammar
If + had + past participle, then would, could or might have + past participle (If we had had an alert, we would have caught it.), negatives and blameless wording.
Topic
An outage in a merchant payments app and the review after it, with words such as incident commander, status page, near miss and stand down.
Activities
A postmortem to read, an outage call to hear, self-checking drills, a chat and role cards, then lessons learned to write and an incident summary to record.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: When Things Break

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and talk about incidents at workSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words for incidentsVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2The Story: The Outage That Never Happened

    • Read the story of Google's example postmortemArticleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer about the storyQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3At Work: The Update That Wasn't There

    • Read the mobile team's postmortemArticleUnlock
    • True or false? Check the postmortemTrue or falseUnlock
    • Drag the section names into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Listen: The Outage Call

    • Listen to the outage callListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer about the callQuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Grammar: If We Had Had an Alert…

    • Study the scheme: the third conditionalGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct formChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the table: join the cause and the resultFill in the tableTry it
    • Choose the sentence with the right meaningQuizUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: complete the lessons learnedFill in the gapsUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Speak Up: Run the Outage Call

    • Choose the right replies in the incident channelChatTry it
    • Open a box: role cards for the outage callOpen the boxUnlock

  7. Chapter 7Homework: Your Blameless Postmortem

    • Read your phrase bankReal-life documentTry it
    • Do you remember? Choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Is the sentence correct? True or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Match the words and their meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Write the lessons learned for a postmortemWriting, checked by the teacherUnlock
    • Record your incident summarySpeaking, checked by the teacherUnlock

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Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • a trigger
  • detection
  • a scribe
  • a near miss
  • lessons learned
  • mitigate
  • declare an incident
  • ramp up
  • stand down

Grammar: the third conditional: a different past

Of the English conditionals, the third is the one set wholly in the past: an if-part that didn't happen and a result that didn't either. Incident reviews need it for the missing safeguard: If we had had an alert on app opens, we would have caught the problem before merchants did. Learners build both halves around past participles, weigh would, could and might have, and keep each if-part about systems, never people.

The third conditional: looking back at an incident

Imagine a different past: the if-part didn't happen, so the result didn't happen either. In a postmortem, the if-part is about systems and safeguards, not people.

Had + past participle, then would have

The if-part takes had + past participle, also in the negative (If the config hadn't reached every app at once) and the passive (If the version had been checked). The result takes would have + past participle: we would have caught the problem earlier.

Forms

PartFormExample
If-partif + had + past participleIf we had had an alert on app opens, …
If-part, negativeif + hadn't + past participleIf the config hadn't reached every app at once, …
If-part, passiveif + had (not) been + past participleIf the version had been checked, …
Result: surewould (not) have + past participle… we would have caught the problem earlier.
Result: able tocould (not) have + past participle… merchants could have downloaded the update.
Result: perhapsmight (not) have + past participle… more merchants might have called support.
In speechwe'd had = we had had; we'd have = we would haveIf we'd had an alert, we'd have caught it.

The pattern

If + had / hadn't + past participlewould / could / might (not) have + past participle

If the checklist had said “only after 100%”, the change wouldn't have gone out early.

The change wouldn't have gone out early if the checklist had said “only after 100%”.

Would, could or might have?

The modal in the result says how sure it is. Would have is sure; could have means would have been able to (merchants could have downloaded it); might have means perhaps (more merchants might have called). Each one has a negative: merchants couldn't have taken any payments.

  • If we had had an alert on app opens, we would have caught the problem before merchants did.We had no alert, so we caught it late.
  • If the config change had gone to 1% of apps first, only a few merchants would have seen the update screen.It went to every app at once.
  • If the checklist had said “only after 100%”, the change wouldn't have gone out early.A negative result: wouldn't have.
  • If the new release had been available to everyone, merchants could have downloaded it.could have = would have been able to
  • If online payments had depended on the app, merchants couldn't have taken any payments.couldn't have = wouldn't have been able to
  • If the outage had happened on a busy Saturday, more merchants might have called.might have = perhaps would have

Blameless: safeguards, not people

In a blameless review, the if-part names a missing check, never a careless person. So If the developer had been more careful becomes If the config tool had checked the version, and If someone had read the checklist properly becomes If the checklist had said “only after 100%”.

✗ About a person

  • If the developer had been more careful, …
  • If someone had read the checklist properly, …

✓ About a safeguard

  • If the config tool had checked the version, …
  • If the checklist had said “only after 100%”, …

Had had, would have gone: the traps

Had had is right: it's the past perfect of have. The if-part never takes would, so it's If we had had an alert, not If we would have had an alert. After have comes the participle: would have gone, never would have went or would had.

  • If we would have had an alert, …

    If we had had an alert, …

    No would in the if-part.

  • … the change would have went out early.

    … the change would have gone out early.

    After have, use the past participle: gone, seen, taken.

  • If we had have an alert, …

    If we had had an alert, …

    had + the past participle of have = had had.

  • … we would had caught it.

    … we would have caught it.

    would + have, never would + had.

Order, comma and full forms

Start with if and use a comma: “If we had had an alert, we would have caught it.” Or start with the result and drop the comma: “We would have caught it if we had had an alert.” In speech, people say we'd had and we'd have; in a written postmortem, use the full forms.

More lessons on this grammar: Third and mixed conditionals lessons and exercises

Try the third conditional exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 13 auto-checked exercises
  • 2 games
  • 2 teacher-checked tasks
  • 1 real-life document
  • 2 articles
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 1 audio clip
  • 1 picture
  • 1 transcript

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • imagine a different past with if + had + past participle: If we had had an alert, we would have caught the problem earlier.
  • say how sure a past result is with would have, could have (able to) or might have (perhaps)
  • write lessons learned about safeguards, not people: If the config tool had checked the version, it would have stopped the change.
  • run an outage call in English: take the lead, give updates and stand down (Next update in ten minutes.)

Lesson 9 of English for IT B2 · Beyond the Code closes Incidents and postmortems, the unit on telling an incident in clear order and without blame. It builds on lesson 7, whose past perfect (had gone) is the third conditional's if-part, and on the passive of lesson 8, back in If the version had been checked. Lesson 12 later mixes the third conditional with results in the present. A postmortem asks what one more safeguard would have changed, which is a third conditional question.

Twelve incident words with pictures and audio, from outage and trigger to declare an incident, come with a wheel of questions and a picture quiz. The story is Google's free Site Reliability Engineering book of 2016, with its rule of blameless postmortems and an example about an invented outage. At work, students read the mobile team's postmortem of an Android update outage, then hear the outage call itself in an AI-voiced dialogue. After the scheme, four drills check themselves, one of them a table that joins each cause to its result. Students then answer the support lead in the incident channel and run an outage call from role cards.

The homework starts with a phrase bank for outage calls. Three exercises then check themselves: a quiz and a true-or-false set that review the whole unit, and a word match. Students then write the lessons-learned part of a blameless postmortem and record an incident summary, two tasks for the teacher to review.

Grammar:
third conditional · would / could / might have
Topic:
incidents · postmortems · outage calls

Teaching tips

  • Run the role cards against the clock: the incident commander needs a decision within ten minutes, and when the call ends, the scribe reads the timeline back and opens the postmortem with two third conditionals.
  • Turn blame into a missing safeguard: write If the developer had been more careful… on the board, and pairs rewrite it about a check, a tool or the release checklist.
  • With company groups, start from a near miss at work: each learner describes one, and the group finishes it as a third conditional, such as If the test hadn't failed, the bug would have reached customers.
  • One-to-one, pause the outage call at each decision and ask what would have happened otherwise: If they had ramped up the rollout, merchants might have waited for hours.

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The whole course: English for IT B2 · Beyond the Code

24 lessons at B2 for software teams, in American English. A year on at Kestrel Cloud, a fictional payments startup, Iryna and her team estimate work, write docs and postmortems, argue trade-offs, give demos and negotiate scope. Each lesson starts from a real case, from the Apollo 11 alarms to Conway's law.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Planning and estimates

    estimates and deadlines: approximating numbers, the future continuous and perfect, likelihood

    1. Lesson 1It always takes longerApproximating numbers in estimates
    2. Lesson 2By New Year's Eve, we'll have fixed itFuture continuous and future perfect
    3. Lesson 3Let's play planning pokerLikelihood with bound to, likely to and may well

  2. Unit 2 Docs people read

    specs and design docs: modals for requirements, participle clauses, plain English

    1. Lesson 4MUST, SHOULD or MAY?Modal verbs for requirements in specs
    2. Lesson 5Four kinds of docsParticiple clauses in documentation
    3. Lesson 6Just a request for commentsPlain English for design docs

  3. Unit 3 Incidents and postmortems

    telling an incident without blame: narrative tenses, the passive, the third conditional

    1. Lesson 7The 1202 alarmNarrative tenses for incident stories
    2. Lesson 8Blameless by designActive vs passive voice in a postmortem
    3. Lesson 9 · you're hereIf we had had an alert…The third conditional: a different past

  4. Unit 4 Architecture and trade-offs

    comparing options and recording decisions: contrast linkers, modals of deduction, mixed conditionals

    1. Lesson 10Your system copies your org chartContrast linkers for comparing options
    2. Lesson 11It's always DNSModals of deduction for troubleshooting
    3. Lesson 12Write down the whyMixed conditionals for looking back on decisions

  5. Unit 5 Demos and tech talks

    a clear structure on stage: signposting, cleft sentences, describing trends

    1. Lesson 13The mother of all demosSignposting language for demos
    2. Lesson 1420 slides, 15 secondsCleft sentences for emphasis
    3. Lesson 15Numbers that tell a storyDescribing graphs and trends

  6. Unit 6 Stakeholders and scope

    saying no and finding yes: diplomatic language, as long as and unless, negotiating

    1. Lesson 16Pay down the debtDiplomatic language for hard messages
    2. Lesson 17Why meetings argue about the bike shedAs long as, provided, unless and otherwise
    3. Lesson 18Yes, if…Negotiating language for scope and deadlines

  7. Unit 7 AI, security and ethics

    AI tools, passwords and team rules: be used to and get used to, past modals of deduction, purpose linkers

    1. Lesson 19Your new pair programmerUsed to, be used to and get used to
    2. Lesson 20Change your password? Maybe notPast modals of deduction
    3. Lesson 21Rules for AI at workPurpose linkers for rules with a reason

  8. Unit 8 Growing your career

    feedback, retros and goals: phrasal verbs, reporting verbs, wish and if only

    1. Lesson 22Your next levelCareer phrasal verbs and goal frames
    2. Lesson 23Feedback that helpsReporting verbs and their patterns
    3. Lesson 24Start, stop, continueWish and if only for wishes and regrets

Questions about this lesson

What is the third conditional?
The third conditional is an if-sentence about a past that didn't happen: if + had + past participle, then would have + past participle. If we had had an alert, we would have caught the problem earlier means there was no alert, so the team caught it late. If we had had an alert…, a B2 English for IT lesson on edio.ai, builds it from an app outage.
How do you use could have and might have in the third conditional?
In the result half, could have means able to, and might have means perhaps. If the new release had been available to everyone, merchants could have downloaded it. If the outage had happened on a busy Saturday, more merchants might have called. For a sure result, use would have. All three take the past participle, and all three have negatives: merchants couldn't have taken any payments.
What are some examples of the third conditional?
Third conditional examples join a missing cause to a result that never came: If the checklist had said “only after 100%”, the change wouldn't have gone out early. If the config tool had checked the version, it would have stopped the change. If support hadn't posted so quickly, we might have lost more time. Each one turns a fact around: the checklist didn't say it, so the change went out early.
Is it "If I would have known" or "If I had known"?
It's If I had known, with no would in the if-part. Would have goes only in the result: If I had known, I would have called you. Likewise: If we had had an alert, not If we would have had. You may hear the would version in casual speech, but standard English uses had. A chat in If we had had an alert… on edio.ai sets this trap.
Why is it "had had" in the third conditional?
Had had is the past perfect of have: the first had makes the tense, and the second is the past participle. So We had no alert becomes If we had had an alert, we would have caught it. It's never If we had have an alert. In speech, people shorten both halves: If we'd had an alert, we'd have caught it.
Is it "would have went" or "would have gone"?
It's would have gone, because have takes the past participle: gone, seen, taken, not went, saw, took. So The change wouldn't have gone out early is right, and wouldn't have went is wrong. The same rule excludes would had: it's we would have caught it. In If we had had an alert…, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, the homework quiz and the true-or-false set check both traps.
What is a postmortem in software?
In software, a postmortem is a written review of an incident after it ends: a summary, the impact, root causes, the trigger, detection, resolution, action items and lessons learned. A blameless postmortem looks at systems and safeguards, not people, because people who fear blame hide problems. Its lessons often use the third conditional: If the change had gone to 1% of apps first, only a few merchants would have seen the update screen.
How do you lead an outage call in English?
Lead an outage call with short phrases that take charge, check facts and set times: I'm taking the lead. Can you confirm it's only Android? What changed, and when? Let's roll back. For support and customers, say what's broken, what still works and when they'll hear from you: Next update in ten minutes. The phrase bank in If we had had an alert… on edio.ai gathers these lines.
What does "stand down" mean in an incident?
To stand down is to end an emergency response once the danger is over. It often follows a short watch: We'll watch for fifteen minutes, then stand down. Its partner at the start is declare an incident: I've just declared one, and I'm taking the lead. Don't mix it up with stand up, a wrong reply in the incident chat, or with a standup, the short daily team meeting.
How do I teach the third conditional to B2 adults?
Start from a fact, then reverse both halves: We had no alert, so we caught the problem late becomes If we had had an alert, we would have caught it earlier. With working adults, use incidents and near misses from their own jobs. Drill the traps next, would in the if-part and would have went, then ask for two lessons learned about safeguards, not people.
What's good homework for practicing the third conditional?
Good homework is a short review of something that went wrong: what went well, what went wrong in two If we had…, we would have… sentences, and one action item with an owner. The B2 English for IT lesson If we had had an alert… on edio.ai sets that writing task and a recorded incident summary for the teacher to review, after a self-checking quiz, true-or-false set and word match.
Are there interactive exercises for the third conditional?
Yes: self-checking tables and chat replies give instant feedback on each form. This page plays four parts of If we had had an alert…, a B2 English for IT lesson on edio.ai, without an account: the outage call, a table that joins each cause and result in one if-sentence, a chat in the incident channel and the phrase bank for outage calls. The other drills are locked.
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