Which half is unreal, and when?
Four sentences. For each, say what is unreal and when.
1. If I had money, I would buy it.
2. If I had had money, I would have bought it.
3. If I had studied medicine, I would be a doctor now.
4. If I were more organised, I would have finished it last week.
Four combinations, in one account
The flat we did not buy
We looked at a flat in 2014 and did not buy it, for reasons that were sensible and that I could not now reconstruct in front of a hostile audience.
If we had bought it, we would have paid about a third of what it is worth now. That is the sentence everybody says, and it is the least interesting one.
If we had bought it, we would be living in a different part of the city — and my daughter would be at a different school, with different friends, and would be a slightly different person. That one I think about.
If I were better with money, I would have seen it at the time. I am not, and I did not, and those two facts have been true about me for thirty years.
If we bought something like it now, we would be paying for it until I am seventy. That one is not a regret at all. It is arithmetic.
Five sentences from the account, and one extra. Match each to the combination it uses.
Two questions, asked twice
The claim of this lesson. There is no such thing as a mixed conditional. There is no fourth type to learn.
There are two clauses. Each one is asked the same two questions, independently: is this real or unreal? and, if unreal, at what time? Two answers each gives four combinations, and two of them happen to have textbook numbers attached while two do not. The machinery is identical.
How each clause is marked
| Clause | Unreal now | Unreal in the past |
|---|---|---|
| The if clause | past simple if I knew · if I were | past perfect if I had known |
| The result clause | would + bare infinitive I would be | would have + participle I would have been |
The four combinations, with and without their numbers
| Condition | Result | Example | Textbook name |
|---|---|---|---|
| unreal now | unreal now | If I knew, I would tell you. | Second conditional |
| unreal past | unreal past | If I had known, I would have told you. | Third conditional |
| unreal past | unreal now | If I had studied medicine, I would be a doctor now. | No name — "mixed" |
| unreal now | unreal past | If I were more organised, I would have finished it. | No name — "mixed" |
Three details worth having.
1 · would never appears in the if clause. If I would have known is the commonest error in this area of English, and it is made by learners of every first language.
2 · could and might replace would freely in the result, and only lower the certainty: I might be a doctor now, I could have told you.
3 · the clauses can swap places with no comma when the result comes first: I would be a doctor now if I had studied medicine.
Rewrite each sentence using the word given, keeping the meaning the same. Between three and six words.
I didn’t study medicine, so I am not a doctor now. HAD
I am not organised, so I did not finish it last week. WERE
We did not buy the flat, so we are living here. BOUGHT
She does not speak German, so she was not given the job in Berlin. SPOKE
He missed the train, so he is not at the meeting. CAUGHT
Five questions.
1. Which is correct?
2. He didn’t sleep, so he is unbearable this morning. Which conditional?
3. She is afraid of flying, so she did not come with us. Which?
4. What does might change in I might be a doctor now?
5. How many types of conditional does this lesson claim exist?
Marking each half on purpose
Eight gaps. Each half of each conditional is marked separately.
If we the flat in 2014, we about a third of what it is worth. We living in a different part of the city, and my daughter at a different school now. If I better with money, I it at the time. And if we something similar today, we for it until I am seventy.
Eight sentences. Seven contain an error; one is correct.
1. If I would have gone, I would be different.
2. If he had slept, he would have been bearable this morning.
3. If she wasn’t afraid of flying, she would come with us last year.
4. If we had bought it, we would be paying for it until now. — correct as written
5. If I was you, I would have asked. — in writing
6. If they would tell me, I would know what to do.
7. If I had studied harder, I would have a better job now, I think. — the speaker means it is possible, not certain
8. If she had left earlier, she would arrived on time.
The four squares
Task card · Speaking · Pairs · 8 minutes, fast
A names a square. B has five seconds to produce a true sentence about their own life in that combination.
Twenty sentences in eight minutes. Swap roles every five.
- The four squares: past → past, past → now, now → now, now → past.
- Five seconds. If B hesitates, A says the two times aloud — "past condition, present result" — and B tries again.
- The sentence must be true about you. Invented sentences let you avoid the hard square.
- Keep a note of which square stalls. It will be now → past, and knowing that is worth more than getting it right today.
Why now → past is the hard one. It says something permanent about you caused something specific not to happen: if I were less proud, I would have asked for help then. It is the most honest of the four combinations, which is a separate reason it is difficult.
Which square stalled
Two questions.
1. Which square produced the most hesitation?
2. Why do the two named types come out fastest?
Two questions, asked twice
Two questions. Twenty seconds.
1. What decides the form of each clause?
2. How many conditional "types" are there really?
Next. Wish and if only — the same backshift, and the one construction that is a complaint about somebody else rather than a regret about yourself.