The third conditional questions
Today while speaking to a colleague of mine I said "Had you studied well, you would have cleared the exam ". I was rebuked for not using the third conditional correctly. I was told that the correct way to express this is " if you had studied well, you would have cleared the exam".
My question here is can I not use the third conditional without an "if". Even if i say had u studied well, it means the same thing.
Yes, your way is also correct. You can invert the conditional clause and omit the if as you did.