I wouldn't be fired/I would not be unemployed?

  1. If I hadn’t been late, I would not be unemployed. ([color=green]correct) = mixed time conditional
  2. If I hadn’t been late, I wouldn’t be fired.([color=red]incorrect) = mixed time conditional

Hello,
Would you please explain their difference to me? Why 1 is correct but 2 is not? They have the same structure. Then what’s the difference? Is that because 2 is passive?

Thank you

The problem in (2) is the word ‘fire’. The verb “to fire” is an informal expression…and there is no adjective form e.g.[color=brown] ‘a fired worker’ (INCORRECT)

In (2), “… I would not be fired”, ‘would be’ is the verb, and ‘fired’ is in the position of trying to be an adjective. e.g.

He is clever.
He is a clever person.

That is why ‘unemployed’, which is an adjective, works, and ‘fired’ doesn’t.

In addition to Bazza’s explanation, it is possible to make sentence 2 correct by changing the tense of the verb ‘will be’:
If I hadn’t been late, I wouldn’t have been fired. (correct)

Thank you so much.

  1. If I hadn’t been late, I wouldn’t be fired. (incorrect)

  2. If I hadn’t been late, I would not be unemployed. (correct)

  3. If I hadn’t been late, he wouldn’t fire me now. (?)

Hello,
I think number 3 is incorrect. Do you agree with me?

[color=red]3. If I hadn’t been late, he wouldn’t fire me now. (?)

I think number 3 is incorrect. Do you agree with me?
[/quote]

YES.
[color=indigo]If I hadn’t been late, he wouldn’t have fired me."

… OR

If I hadn’t be late, he wouldn’t be firing me now. (Though this would work best as a thought, during the process of being told that you are fired).

Thank you so much.