Scarica English Grammar: Understanding Conditionals e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity!
Conditionals
How to form the conditionals
There are four different kinds of conditionals, depending on the time that they refer to. Type 0 If + simple present + simple present For example: If it rains, the ground gets wet. If you eat too much, you feel sick. If you drop a glass, it breaks.
In these examples, you can use when instead of if without changing the meaning.
We use this structure for something that is always true. This is always the result, not just once or twice, but every time the ‘if clause’ happens, it results in the other clause.
Type 1 (First Conditional)
If + present simple, will + infinitive
For example: If it rains, we won’t go for a picnic
If you eat too much at the party today, you will feel sick. If you drop that glass, it will break.
In this case, if and when are not interchangeable.
This conditional is used to talk about things that are possible, that might happen in the future. Obviously, we don’t know precisely what will happen in the future, but in this conditional, the ‘will clause’ is a very likely result, or something that could easily happen following the ‘if clause’.
The difference between Type 0 and Type 1 is that we use Type 0 for something that is true in general, every time, whereas Type 1 is for a particular instance.
Type 2 (Second Conditional)
If + simple past, would + infinitive
For example: if I inherited a fortune, I would buy a beautiful villa
If I kept a pet tiger, it would growl at you If I were the Prime Minister, I would make new laws. If I were you, I would buy that bag. If I had an apple, I would eat it.
The ‘if clause’ is formed using simple past, but there is one thing to note. We use ‘were’ instead of ‘was’, especially in writing. In speech, it is common to use either ‘was’ or ‘were’, although some people consider ‘were’ more correct. This conditional is used in two ways. Firstly, it is for things in the future that are unlikely to happen, such as for personal dreams or jokes or unlikely predictions. Secondly, it is for things in the present that cannot happen, as they are impossible. Let’s look at the examples and see how it has been used in them. If I inherited a fortune, I would buy a beautiful villa. [I am very unlikely to inherit a fortune, this is a personal dream.] If I kept a pet tiger, it would growl at you. [I am very unlikely to keep a pet tiger, this is a joke.] If I were the Prime Minister, I would make new laws [I am very unlikely to be the Prime Minister, this is an unlikely prediction.] If I were you, I would buy that bag. [I am not you, it is impossible for me to be you] If I had an apple, I would eat it. [I don’t have an apple, so it is impossible for me to eat it.] Let’s compare this to the first conditional This kind of conditional sentence is different from the first conditional (Type 1) because this is a lot more unlikely.
For example: If I inherited a fortune, I would buy a beautiful villa [I'm probably not going to inherit a fortune, it's just a dream.]
If I inherit a fortune from my uncle, I'll buy a villa. [I have a rich uncle, it’s much more likely that I will inherit some money.]
Type 3 (Third Conditional) If + past perfect, would + have + past participle For example: If you had eaten the rotten apple, you would have been sick. If we had seen Martin, we would have said hello. If Frances had left the house on time, she would have caught the bus.
