Can I replace “was” by “had been” here?
I have got two sentences and I want to know whether they make sense gramatically or not.
1) I would surely have crashed the car if I was driving at the time you called me.
2)I would surely have crashed the car if I had been driving at the time you called me.
Both these sentences convey the same meaning though I'd like to know whether "was" can be replaced by "had been" in sentences like this.
P.S- these sentences are not from my grammar work book.
Both clauses in a conditional construction must be cast in the same real/unreal modality. Since your consequence (then) clause is cast as would have crashed, a past unreal construction, your condition (if) clause must also be cast as an unreal construction, had been driving.
(2) is not only possible, it's the correct version. If I had been X I would have done Y.
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