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Second Conditional: English Grammar

The document discusses the second conditional in English grammar. The second conditional is used to talk about hypothetical or unlikely present or future situations. It uses the structure "If + past tense verb, ... + "would" + base verb." For example, "If I won the lottery, I would travel around the world." The second clause with "would" expresses what would happen if the condition in the first clause occurred, even though it is unlikely or impossible. The order can also be reversed as "would + base verb + if + past tense verb." With the verb "to be," "were" is used instead of "was" in the if-clause.

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34 views

Second Conditional: English Grammar

The document discusses the second conditional in English grammar. The second conditional is used to talk about hypothetical or unlikely present or future situations. It uses the structure "If + past tense verb, ... + "would" + base verb." For example, "If I won the lottery, I would travel around the world." The second clause with "would" expresses what would happen if the condition in the first clause occurred, even though it is unlikely or impossible. The order can also be reversed as "would + base verb + if + past tense verb." With the verb "to be," "were" is used instead of "was" in the if-clause.

Uploaded by

Stefan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Second Conditional

English Grammar
When we are thinking about a situation in the present or future that is hypothetical, unlikely or
impossible, we use:

If + Past Simple, ...Would + Verb

We use a past verb though are imagining the present or the future to be different.

The second clause of subject + would + verb (conditional verb) is conditional to the first clause
happening (or will only happen if the first part/clause happens).

Example: If I won the lottery, I would travel around the world.

= It is unlikely that I will win the lottery, but I'm going to hypothetically imagine that I did win.
In that situation I would travel around the world. So in order for me to travel around the world, I
would need the first clause (the condition or situation) to happen, that is, for me to win the lottery
first.

 If I won the lottery, I would travel around the world. (Though I am unlikely to win the
lottery)

 If I knew his name, I would tell you.

 If I didn't have a headache, I would go to the party.

 If I became President, I would reduce the salaries of all politicians. (Though it is unlikely
I will become President)

Notice how we use a comma after the past tense clause.

We can also reverse the order and use:

Conditional verb (would + verb) + If + Past Simple

 I would be happy if I had more free time.

 I would tell you the answer if I knew what it was.

 There would be fewer accidents if everyone drove more carefully.


 We would have a lot of money if we sold our house.

 Would she come if I paid for her flight?

 Would you accept the job if they offered it to you?

 What would you do if you won the lottery?

 What would you do if you saw a U.F.O?

Notice how the comma is not necessary with this word order.

If I were ...

Note that with the verb To Be we use IF + I / HE / SHE / IT + WERE

The reason we use WERE instead of WAS is because the sentence is in the Subjunctive mood.

 If I were not in debt, I would quit my job.

 If he were taller, he'd be accepted into the team.

 She would be still be correcting my grammar if she were still alive.

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