Test J Conditionals and reported speech

A Antonio and Ellie are having a break at work. Complete their conversation with the verbs in
Conditionals and
reported speech

brackets ( ) in the right tenses. Use contracted forms, if they sound more natural.
Antonio: I feel old and useless.
Ellie: You’re OK. Don’t worry so much.
Antonio: If I ♦ was (be) in a different job, I might be happier.
Ellie: You always talk like this if you 1 (be) tired.
Antonio: Yes, but if I had applied for other jobs, I 2 (get) something more interesting
by now. I wouldn’t be so tired.
Ellie: If I 3 (be) you, I’d take a holiday.
Antonio: I wish I 4 (have) enough money.
Ellie: If you saved up, you 5 (be) able to have holidays. We’ve had this
conversation before, haven’t we?
Antonio: Yes, I know. But if I 6 (not talk) to you, I won’t find an answer.
Ellie: I wish I 7 (can) help you more.
Antonio: But I would have stopped work completely if I 8 (not met) you, Ellie!
Ellie: If people 9 (not speak) to each other, they lose hope. That’s my opinion.
What makes you happy, anyway?
Antonio: I wish I 10 (know). The only thing I know is that I 11 (sing)
if I’m happy. Does that help?
Ellie: Perhaps. Where do you sing?
Antonio: In the shower mostly.
Ellie: Perhaps you 12 (be) happier if you got a job in music?
Antonio: Perhaps. But I have to get back to work. I’ll talk to you later.

B Peter is making a political speech in the town centre. Improve his speech by using Second
and Third Conditionals instead of the underlined text.
‘Please listen to me. ♦We don’t work together, so we don’t succeed. 1You didn’t vote
for me at the last election, so your lives have not improved. Don’t go away. I know it’s
raining! 2Churchill isn’t alive today. 3Life isn’t better, and he isn’t our Prime Minister. Come
back, sir! I haven’t finished. 4Our teachers aren’t happy because our schools are short of
money. 5I won’t become Prime Minister, so I won’t give every child a new phone. 6I didn’t
bring my wife with me today. 7She isn’t here because she’s busy with her own work.’
♦♦ If we worked together, we would succeed.
1 If you 
2 I wish Churchill 
3 Life would 
4 Our teachers would 
5 If I 
6 I wish I 
7 If she wasn’t 

19 Oxford Practice Grammar • Basic • Test J Photocopiable © Oxford University Press 2019
 Test Y Conditionals and wish

A Complete the news report about a protest against a new road. Put in the correct form of the
verbs. Sometimes you need will or would.
Yesterday protesters managed to hold up work on the Oldbury bypass. Protest leader
Alison Compton defended the action by members of the Green World group. ‘If we
don’t protest, soon ♦ there’ll be (there / be) no countryside left,’ she told
reporters. The bypass is now well behind schedule, and if the protesters had not held up
the work so often, 1 (it / open) two months ago. ‘If these fields
2 (disappear), we’ll never see them again,’ said Ms Compton.
‘Why can’t we use public transport? If more people 3 (travel)
on buses and trains, we wouldn’t need new roads. If the car had never existed, the world
4 (be) a more pleasant place today.’
But many people in Oldbury want their new bypass. ‘If 5
(they / not build) it soon, the traffic jams in the town will get worse,’ said Asif Mohammed,
whose house is beside the busy A34. ‘We just can’t leave things as they are. If things
remained the same, people’s health 6 (suffer) even more
from all the pollution here. It’s terrible. If we don’t get the traffic out of the town,
7 (I / go) mad. If 8 (I / know) earlier how
bad this problem would get, 9 (I / move) out years ago. But now
it has become impossible to sell this house because of the traffic. The government waited
too long. If 10 (they / do) something sooner, there would be less
traffic today.’ And the protest is making the new road even more expensive. ‘If this goes on,
11 (there / not / be) enough money left to finish the road,’ says the
Transport Minister.

B Look at the answers below and write the correct answer in each space.
♦ A: There’s always something going wrong with this car.
B: If you had any sense, you’d have sold it long ago.
a) be selling   b) have sold   c) sell   d) sold
1 A: It’s a pity the lake wasn’t frozen yesterday.
B: Yes, it is. If it frozen, we could have gone skating.
a) had been   b) was   c) would be   d) would have been
2 A: Haven’t you got enough money for a holiday?
B: Oh yes. I’ve got some saved up I suddenly need it.
a) if   b) in case   c) that   d) unless
3 A: What are you going to do next year?
B: I wish I the answer to that question.
a) knew   b) know   c) could know   d) would know
4 A: I don’t know if I’ll be able to find the place.
B: Yes, if the satnav was working.
a) better   b) only   c) really   d) that
5 A: What are you doing later this afternoon?
B: Oh, the game finishes, I’ll go home, I expect.
a) if   b) in case   c) unless   d) when
6 A: Do you think I should take the job?
B: You shouldn’t do anything you think it’s the right thing to do.
a) if   b) in case   c) unless   d) when
49 Oxford Practice Grammar • Intermediate • Test Y Photocopiable © Oxford University Press 2019
 C Write a second sentence that has a similar meaning to the first. Begin with If …
♦ I haven’t got a key, so I can’t get in.
If I had a key, I could get in.
1 You talk about football and I’m going to be very bored.

2 The baby didn’t cry, so we had a good sleep.

3 You may want a chat, so just call me.

4 Dan hasn’t got satellite TV, so he can’t watch the game.

5 You go away and I’ll miss you.

6 I’m not rich or I’d have given up working long ago.

7 We should have bought that picture five years ago because it would be quite valuable now.

8 Throw a stone into water and it sinks.


D Write the second sentence correctly.

♦ There aren’t any eggs. If we have some eggs, I could make an omelette.
If we had some eggs, I could make an omelette.
1 The weather doesn’t look very good. If it’ll rain, I’ll stay here.

2 The programme is starting soon. Can you tell me if it starts?

3 Could you just listen? I didn’t need to repeat things all the time if you listened.

4 It’s a simple law of science. If air will get warmer, it rises.

5 There’s only one key. I’d better get another one made if I lose it.

6 We were really late. I wish we left home earlier.

7 I hope the parcel comes today. If it won’t arrive today, we’ll have to complain.

8 That music is on loud. I wish someone turns it down.

9 We must do something. Until we act quickly, it’ll be too late.

10 Of course Martin was angry. But he hadn’t been angry if you hadn’t damaged his new phone.


50 Oxford Practice Grammar • Intermediate • Test Y Photocopiable © Oxford University Press 2019
 Test 15 Conditionals
A Choose the word or phrase which best completes each sentence.
15 Conditionals

1 What’s a miracle? Well, popcorn’s a miracle if you know how it’s made.
a didn’t b don’t c won’t d wouldn’t

2 Some of you may have already completed section one. , you can go on to section two.
a If so b If you do c If you may d If not

3 In summer, if my dad finished work early, he sometimes take us swimming.

a is b was c will d would

4 If you don’t mind, I finish my coffee before we leave.

a would b would have c would like d would rather

5 If they’d Justin more time, he’d have been able to do a better job.
a give b giving c given d gave

B Identify the one underlined expression (A, B, C or D) that must be changed in order to
correct the sentence.
1 If I were
A
late, they usually made
B
me stay
C
after school and I had
D
to do extra homework.
2 We must
A
maintain a system of law, and support
B
a police force. If we don’t,
C
the criminals would
D
soon be
in charge.
3 I’m not the kind of person whoA goes around thinking
B
if only I have
C
done this or that. I just feel
D
lucky.
4 Things will
A
be better if I will
B
get a job and earn
C
some money so I don’t
D
have to live with my
parents.
5 The Czech Republic’s top general once
A
warned staff officers they
B
will lose their jobs ifC only they
don’t
D
learn English, according to a story in the news.

C Complete this article, tips on how to learn a language, with one suitable word in
each space.

Spend some time in a country where people speak the language. For

example, 1 you go to Paris, you 2

learn French more quickly than if you 3 classes at home.

But it’s better to go alone. If you 4 with your friends in a

group, you’re more likely to speak your native language with them.

Try to find a job. If you 5 in a restaurant in Salamanca, you

6 have to speak Spanish to the customers all day. You could

also think about who you live with. Imagine how fantastic your Spanish would be by

the time you went home if you 7 with Spanish people!

29 Oxford Practice Grammar • Advanced • Test 15

 15 Conditionals

D Complete each of the sentences in such a way that it is as similar as possible in meaning to
the sentence above it.
1 The party is not likely to happen because no one is willing to help.
Unless  .
2 She didn’t escape injury; she wasn’t wearing a crash helmet.
If only  .
3 I still loved her despite the fact that she could be very difficult.
Even though  .
4 We’re leaving tomorrow if you like the idea or if you don’t like the idea.
Whether  .
5 I arrived late; the traffic was so bad.
I’m sorry, but if  .

E Complete this text with the following clauses.

whether you’re getting an error message
if you have received no error messages
even if your printer is an older model
if any print jobs are on hold
if it’s a wireless model
if your queue gets bogged down   
if you are still having a problem  
if any print jobs are on hold
if your printer won’t print
if necessary

Printers are great when they do their job quietly and efficiently, but

1 , it can be a very frustrating experience. What should

you do 2 ?3

or your printer simply won’t respond, you should take a deep breath and follow these basic steps.

First, 4 , check to be sure that the

printer is still connected via USB or, 5 ,

that you are connected to the right network. Check the print queue to find out

6 .7 ,

it can cause the printer to grind to a halt. 8 ,

you should still be able to print from a mobile device.

9 , go to the troubleshooting section in the User

Manual, or, 10 , contact Technical Support.

30 Oxford Practice Grammar • Advanced • Test 15