A: Why are you so late?
B: If there hadn't been so much traffic on the road, I ................... (not/be) so late.
I would use mixed conditional here:
There was a lot of traffic -> we need the third conditional to talk about the hypothetical past
I am late -> we need the second conditional to talk about the hypothetical present situation
If there hadn't been [but there was] so much traffic on the road, I wouldn't be [ but I am] so late.
However, the key says:
If there hadn't been so much traffic on the road, I wouldn't have been so late.
But person A says: Why are you so late?
So how can we use the third conditional here which is for past situations?
B: If there hadn't been so much traffic on the road, I ................... (not/be) so late.
I would use mixed conditional here:
There was a lot of traffic -> we need the third conditional to talk about the hypothetical past
I am late -> we need the second conditional to talk about the hypothetical present situation
If there hadn't been [but there was] so much traffic on the road, I wouldn't be [ but I am] so late.
However, the key says:
If there hadn't been so much traffic on the road, I wouldn't have been so late.
But person A says: Why are you so late?
So how can we use the third conditional here which is for past situations?