V7 ceneiinas Bt Conditional sentences tell usa condition (if..)" and its consequence. The tenses we use depend on: ‘© whether the condition and its consequence are possible, unlikely or imaginary. whether they are generally true or are linked to a particular event. >» "For other words like if which introduce conditions, see Unit 19. Often the condition comes before the consequence and in this case the condition is followed by a comma: Ifyou ring that bell, someone will come to the door. Sometimes the consequence comes first and in this case we dont use a comma: Someone will come to the door i you ring that bel We can divide conditional into four groups. Zero conditional If+ present tense, + consequence using present tense If the economy is bad, there are few jobs for young people Consequence in present tense + if + present cense There are few jobs for young people if the economy is bad. We use this to state general truths. f means the same as when in zero conditional sentences: Uf/When you're in love, nothing else matters, = Nothing else matters ffwhen you're in love. When it rains, we get terrible traffic jams. = We get terrible traffic jams iffwhen it rains YfWhen we heat ie, t melts = Ice melts iffwhen we heat it First conditional If + present tense, + consequence using future tense If pass this exam, my parents will give me a motorbike. Consequence in future tense + if + present tense My parents will give me a motorbike if| pass ths exam, We use this for a condition which we believe is possible, We use a present cense after feven though we are very often referring oa future possiblity Ifyou vist me take you tothe Tower of London. (nat f-yortvst) (= it’s possible you wll vst me) Jit snows wel go sking (= its possible thacit will snow, we canbe certain) If) see Ruth, give her your message (= is possible Il see her bu | might not) If does not mean the same as when in sentences like these: When you vist me, Il take you tothe Tower of Landon. (= 1 know you're going to vist me) When it snows, wel go skiing. (= it will definitely snowy, Im certain) When I see Ruth, Il give her your message. (= Lknow fm going to see her) Sometimes we use the imperative followed by and to express this kind of condition (the imperative always {comes fist) This form is more common in spoken English. We usualy use it for promises and threats ass this exam and well give you a motorbike. Wait a minute and Il be able to help you, Break that jug and youll have to pay for it 122conaivinais(y 17 [El Second conditional If + past tense, + consequence using would + verb Ifyou lived in London, | would visit you at weekends. Consequence using would + verb + if + past tense would visit you at weekends if you lived in London, We use ths for an imaginary coneition, which we believe to be impossible or very improbable. We use the past tense after if even though we are referring tothe present or future The world would seem wonderful f you were love (= but you're notin love, so the world doesnt seem wonderful) {fit smowed, we'd (would) go sking. (=| thinkit's very unlikely chat i wll snow) ‘A. We often use were instead of was in the ifclause, especially when we write. tis more formal if wasn'tf weren't so tired, Fd go out with my fiends ths evening. The product would attract more customers it was/were less expensive. We always use were inthe phrase If were you, used to give advice: If were you, wouldnt phone him [El Third conditional If + past perfect, + consequence using would have + past participle If (had) seen Karen, 'd (would) have given her your message. Consequence using would have + past participle + if+ past perfect id (would) have given Karen your message if (had) seen her. ‘We use ths to talk about past events which cannot be changed, so we know that the condition is impossible and its consequence is imaginary: The world would have seemed wonderful if you'd (had) been in love (= but you werent in lave so the world didnt seem wonderful) Ifichad snowed, weld (would) have gone sking. (= but it didnt snows so we didn go skiing) (4 (would) have visited you every weekend ifyou'd (had) invited me, (= but you didnt invite me, s0| didn't visit you) ‘A. Other modal verbs like might and could are sometimes used instead of would in second and third conditional sentences: L might vst you if you invited me. | could have visited you if you'd (had) invited me. Ifichad snowed, we could have gone king ‘We sometimes meet sentences which eantain a mre of second an third conditions because of thir articular conte Ifyou lived in London, have visited you by now. (= but you dontv in London shaver ised you) If the weather had been fine last week, there would be roses in my garden, (= but the weather was bad last week so there are no roses my garden now) Lesley would have missed the bus she was bette organised (= she mised the bus because she isa badly orgnied person) You could have used my carystrdoy ifthe battery wasn lt (2 the batery iss at) 123TZ. conaiionssty (¢| Grammar exercises Match the beginnings and endings ofthese sentences. AW! 11 The house wouldn't have been such a mess {A ifshe wasnt such ajealous type 2 Mike had listened to his father, Bd probably try to gecinco a local team. 3. woul quite like Juno © they usally wait until the weather is good. 4 Dave didnt work so much, D_ and you'l never forge his face. 5 Wewould have arrived early E_ he wouldnt have got into rouble. Fl wereas good a tennis as Nancy FI still wouldnt love you! 7 If people want to have a barbecue, © shell get a nasty surprise 8 IF Sally opens chat door, ifthe roads had been less busy 9 Take one look at Alan 1 hewouldnt get so tired. 10 Ifyou were as handsome as film sta, J ifthe guestshadnt been careless. Puc the verbs in brackets into the correct form. 1 Iwon't help you with your homework ifyou__dn!t tidy _(not tidy) your bedroom, 2 You need avisaifyou______ (want) co wavel to China 3 Whe __(core) about other people's Feelings, he wouldnt behave that way. 4 She ___ (not be) successful if she doesnt lem to control her temper. 5. Fdknown you were such a gossip,|_______(not tal) you my secret, 5 They would work harderifthey ________(not be) so tired 7 Theboss_ (be) furious he found out what you were up co. 8 Ifthe temperature _____(al) below freezing, water turns to ice. 9 they __ (not expect) delays, they wouldnt have set off o early 410 Open the envelope and you______(ascover) what prize you've won, 24Conditionals (1) 1 7 LEI complet te sentence for each picture using the third conditional, to show how missing her bus one day resulted in a new job for Zoe. [ec ner i a See @ 4 3, iZ\eRe vw? ae a 5 ti ‘The service is 3 S| 4 S Ti apply for: s lly slow! a! ‘that job. a a ~ ADV, 6 VE 3 MeNef ——— F— SZ lle, lfshe hadn't missed her bus, she _wouldn't have gone into the café Ii there had been a free table, she «she would’ have had to wait for her coffee. she wouldn't have picked up the magazine. Ifshe had’ noticed the advertisement, she ED © complete the following sentences by Cambridge First candidates with the correct form apply be ey tay take a had. to choose a present, I would like to have a new skirt 2. Ifhe hadn't been interested in the job, he ____________ (not) for it in the first place, 3 fl__you, | would try to organise water skiing for my students. 4. Fwe had seen her during the holidays, we _________her to the castle. 5 ifl___more money, I would buy a new phone. © Milbe realy happy if you__tomy birthday party 7 Wfshe ________athome on Saturday, she wouldn't have met Andrei at the party. 8 fl__ camping with my father, we will probably go fishing 9 Ifwatch too much TY before school, my father _ angry with me. 125Exam practice 126 Reading and Use of English Part 6 You are going to read a magazine article about a young woman who works in a nursery school. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each ‘gap (1-6). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use. ‘CHANCES Nursery schoo! teacher Sarah Oliver tells how a chance meeting changed her life. really enjoy my job, it makes me feel good at the beginning of every week, because | love working with ‘small children and I enjoy the challenges that atise. But there was a time when I thought | would never hhave that sort of career, | wasnt very good at schoo | mean, | can't ike studing much, 3 cnt ty very har. | hough was the sor of person who could o school work, I suppese.[ + [ __] Butin my final term | stated thinking what | might do and Irealised that | didn't have much to offer fT'd worked harder, | would have hhad better grades, but it was too late, | just accepted that | wasn't the type to have a career. Then | thought, well I've spent every holiday for the past five years helping my mum ~ I've got two brothers and a sister, all much younger than me.[2 |_| Their father worked abroad and their mother hhad some high-powered job in an insurance company. 'did most of the housework and | had a lot of responsibility fr the children although | was only sixteen. The problems bogan realy when | agreed to Ive in, s that | would be thre my boss had to go out for business inthe evening. What was supposed to happen as, had to work extra hours one week, she'd ave me time off the next. But unfortunatly aa oten workout [8 | _] fo rapped, because il walked out, there wou be anyone to look ater them ‘Anyway, one Sunday | was in the park with them, while their parents were on yet another business trip, and meta girl called Megan | used to be at school with.[ 4 [ __]! was teling her how | loved the kids bbut hated the job and she said, 'f you want to work with children, you ought to do a course and get qualification” hough you couldn't do course I you hadn't done al sort of exams at schoo, ut she persuaded ma to phone the local callage anc they wero realy hep. My experience courte for alot and got on parttime course,[ 6 | _|!was realy short of money and | even had to get an evening jb asa wavess for awhile, But twas Wa7h tn the end, there are Now I've got a fulltime job. Most of the children in this schoo! come from families whe! problems like unemployment or poor housing.[ € | _ |The children benefit, but also the parents. It gives them time to sort things out, go for trang oFob interviews, and so on. I'l always be {grateful to Megan, If| hadn't bumped into her, | would have stayed on where | was, getting more and more fed up.‘A Thad to leave my job with the family, but | got work helping out al a nursery school, B Hind that the work we do helps in lots of ways. © Iwas gotting more and more tied and fed up, because | had too ‘many late nights and early mornings with the little ones. So I found myself a job as a nanny, looking after two litle girls. E We weren't particularly triandly before, but we chatted about what we were doing F If 'd had more confidence, | would have done that. G__ Iwas just impatient to leave as soon as I could. Without looking back at the text, match the beginnings and endings of these extracts, | thought you couldn't do courses: ‘A. there wouldn't be anyone to look after them. I'd worked harcer, {you ought to do a course and get a qualification. Iv Lhadin’t bumped into her, I would have done that. she'd give me time off the next it you want to work with children, | would have stayed on where Iwas. 11 walked out, 1 2 3 4 I1Tdhad more confidence 5 6 | would have had better grades. 7 oSamo0e It Thad to work extra hours one week, it you hadn't done all sorts of exams at school 127