大家看看这句话是什么语法现象?

题目

大家看看这句话是什么语法现象?
Were if left to me to decide whether we should have a goverment without newspaper or newspapers without a goverment,I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter
请问这句话一开始的Were if left to me.是什么结构啊,从来没见过
我也觉得有可能是编辑错误,刚刚去查了一下,还真是印刷错误....郁闷!害的我想了半天
原句出处是:包惠南：中国文化与汉英翻译 P17

答案

Were if left to me to decide whether we ...你此处有误,
应为Were it left to me to decide whether we ...,是虚拟条件句条件从句If it were left to me to decide whether...省去if,将were提前到主语之前的用法.
请这位朋友记住以下规则：
当虚拟条件句中的if条件状语从句中谓语动词含有were,had,should时,可省去if,将were,had,should提到从句主语的前面去.
又如：
Were I to do it by myself(=If I were to do it by myself),I might not finish it on time.
Had I followed your advice,I would have finished it earlier.
Should he have enough time,he would surely drop in on her.
注意：虚拟语气中系动词be通常通用were.