CONDITIONAL SENTENCE

Conditional 1

(present/future – possible)

•          When something is possible now or in the future

•          Form:

 If  +  (simple present) + (simple future)

           ( S  + V1  +  P ) + (S + WILL/SHALL + V1 + O )

Note :

→  “ Will “    to I,SHE,YOU,WE,THEY,HE

→  “ Shall “   to I, WE

Example :

If she studies, she will pass the geography test.

(It is possible !!)

UNLESS

•          Unless = if not

•          Example:

   If we don’t finish soon, we will miss the train.

  Unless we finish soon, we will miss the train.

  Temporals

•          Temporals are time expressions.

       Examples: before, until, after, by the time, etc.

•          When they refer to the future, they are like Conditional I: Temporal (present), will V.

 Examples:

•Until he arrives, I will read a book.

•They will make a cake before they  go. 

Conditional II

                (present/future – impossible)

•          When something is NOT possible now, or in the future.

•          Form:

                If +  (simple past) + would V.

                If  +        (S + V2[was/were] + O +Time phrase)

             Example:

       →  Fact:

“I can sing english song, I lear it everyday’’ [positive]

• “If  I didn’t lear english song everyday, I can’t sing english song”.[negative]

Special Rule“To be” is always “were”

1.“To be” is always “were”

                Example:

                   ◊ (Fact: He’s not here, so it’s impossible.)

                   “If he were here, he would do it”

2. You can drop the “if” by moving the “were” to the front.

                 Example:

                    “Were he here, he would do it”

                wish + (simple past)

•          Unlike a hope (which is possible), a wish usually will not come true. In general, you wish for a miracle, something that is impossible.

Examples:

                                •I wish I were in Costa Rica.(I’m not there.)

                                •He wishes he spoke Chinese.(He doesn’t.)

                 

                  would rather

•          “Would rather” is like Conditional II, wishing for something that is probably impossible.

•          Form: Subject 1 would rather subject 2 (past).

  Example:

◊(Fact: He probably won’t.)

“ would rather he came right now”.

    would rather = I ‘d rather

                  Example: I’d rather he came right now

Conditional III

(simple past – impossible)

•          “Making believe” about the past, assuming something that wasn’t true

•          Form:

   If had V3rd, then would have V3rd.

•          Example:

  If we had studied, we would have passed the exam. (Fact: We didn’t study and we didn’t pass the exam.)

Where does the ‘not’ go?

•          If the girl had not looked both ways when she crossed the street, a car would have hit her. (Fact: She did look both ways, so a car did not hit her.)

•          If the boys had practiced more, they would not have lost the game. (Fact: They did not practice enough, so they lost the game.)

Special Rules for Conditional III

•          You can drop the “if” by moving the “had” to the front.

•          Example:

 If he had been there, we would have done it.

 Had he been there, we would have done it.

Remember !!

The four words that NEVER (well, almost never) appear in the IF clause are:

  will, won’t, would, wouldn’t