Look at the text.

1. What is the basic situation being considered?

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2. Does the writer repeat the basic situation when presenting each new consequence?
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3. How many consequences are there?

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4. Are the conditions and consequences in the same time frame?

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5. The example article is hypothetical (not real), but it still has to have a purpose (a
reason). What do you think is the purpose of this text? (Maybe an idea which is
explained or a point of view which is talked about.)
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Writers usually talk about a real situation before they hypothesise about unreal possibilities.
You should do this in your writing.

1. In the first paragraph, where does the writer change from taking about a real
situation to talking about an unreal situation?
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2. How many sentences does the writer take to set up the unreal situation?
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3. One of the sentences is more general, whilst the other is quite specific. Which one
comes first? Why do you think this is?
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4. The writer separates these sentences between the first and second paragraphs. Why
do you think the writer chose to do this?
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5. The conclusion to a hypothetical piece of writing normally goes back to real life.
Which sentence in the article shows the writer changing back from a hypothetical
situation to a real one?
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 Stating Condition and Consequence I
This type of sentence is made up of two parts:
a. a starting hypothetical present time condition (basically a situation which
could possibly happen, but which is unreal and untrue at the moment)
b. the consequence of the unreal situation, (what would happen if the situation
were real
Because the first half is not real, we must use past tense grammar. And because its not real,
we need to use would, could or might to introduce the consequence.

To make it super clear, we can describe the sentence like this:

If A were true, (then) B would/could/might happen.

Example: If there were no cars (then) people would walk more.

(hypothetical present time situation using past tense) (consequence using would)

Practise writing a few yourself. You need to write the consequence.

1. If there were no electric lights, ___________________________________________

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2. If there were no scooters in Taiwan, ______________________________________
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3. If there were no traffic lights, ___________________________________________
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4. If there were no air conditioners, ________________________________________
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5. If there were no cell phones, ___________________________________________
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6. If there were no paper money, __________________________________________
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7. If there no earthquakes in Taiwan, _______________________________________
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8. If there were no police, ________________________________________________
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The same pattern can be used to answer all sorts of hypothetical questions:

What would you do if you could fly?

If I could fly, I would hide in the trees just to have fun.

What would you do if there were lots of cockroaches in the classroom?

If there were lots of cockroaches in the classroom, I think I might scream and
run away!

Practice with a partner:

1. If it had to be one of Winter, Autumn, Spring or Summer for the rest of time, which
would you choose? Why?
2. If Jurassic Park were real, would you visit it? Why?
3. If you could relive the last year, would you change any choices you made? If you
would, which ones?
4. If you could choose between fifty years of being incredibly happy or to live forever
and be unhappy what would you choose?
5. If you had 1 million dollars to spend, but were going to die in 7 days, what might you
do with your money?
6. How could you persuade someone to give you money if you really needed it?
7. If you had to describe your life in 20 words or less, what would you say?
8. What do you think might be the most uncomfortable thing if you were homeless?
9. If you knew you were going to go blind in 2 months, what would you do? What
would you want to travel and see?
10. Which animal would you want to be if you were reincarnated as an animal in your
next life? Which animal wouldnt you want to be?
11. What would you do if you saw a ghost?
12. If you had enough money to donate to a charity every month, which charity would
you donate to? Why?
13. What could you do to help if you saw someone drowning?
14. If you could relive any day from your past, which day would you choose to relive?
15. If you were a teacher, what could you teach?
16. Where would you like to live if you couldnt live in Taiwan?
17. How would you prepare if you had to give a speech or do a performance?
18. If you needed to have a kidney transplant, who do you think would be happy to give
you their kidney?
 Stating Condition and Consequence II
If you feel confident using it this way, you can try introducing the consequence first.

Example: People would walk more if there were no cars.

Students would be happier if they didnt need to take so many tests.
I could buy a mansion if I married a very rich person.
People might be healthier if they had to walk to work.
(consequence using would) (hypothetical present time situation using past tense)

You need to fill the gaps in with a condition. Remember, that to show a condition is unreal,
we use past tense.

Practise writing a few yourself. You need to write the condition.

1. I would cook more often if ______________________________________________

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2. Everyone would walk to work or school if __________________________________
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3. My parents would be really proud of me if _________________________________
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4. Taiwan would be a safer country if _______________________________________
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5. People might be kinder to each other if____________________________________
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6. People would need to eat less meat if _____________________________________
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7. I could be a millionaire if _______________________________________________
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8. I would leave Taiwan if ________________________________________________
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9. My life would be very different if ________________________________________
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10. I might feel happier if _ ________________________________________________
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 Adding style I

So youve got the two sentence structures sorted, but if youre writing a longer hypothetical
essay, youll want more than two ways to write hypothetical sentences - otherwise itll start
to sound boring.
We can do that by shortening sentences. This doesnt work for all types of hypothetical
sentences, but for the subject covered in the example essay it works really well.

Example: If there were no cars, people would walk more.

(hypothetical present time situation using past tense) (consequence using would)

Without cars, people would walk more.

(the if clause has been reduced to a prepositional phrase) (consequence using would)

Rewrite the sentences using with/without in prepositional phrases.

1. If there were no gas or electricity, life would be different.

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2. Taiwan would be a lot safer if there were no earthquakes.
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3. If there were no clocks, we would have to tell the time by looking at the sky.
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4. If there were robots in every home, people would do less housework.
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5. There would be less air pollution if there was a law banning diesel cars.
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6. If there were police officers on every street, there would be fewer traffic accidents.
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Sentences which include the verb had can also be reduced to fit this with/without pattern.

Example: If I only had three days to live, I would meet all my friends and family.
With only three days to live, I would meet all my friends and family.
If I didnt have any other choice, I would leave Taiwan.
Without any other choice, I would leave Taiwan.
Adding style II
The final sentence structure were going to look at today is one that you can use after you
have already explained what the hypothetical situation is.

This is useful, because without it, you would need to keep stating the condition. Consider
the two paragraphs below, the second one only states the condition at the start.

Without cars, people would have to walk more. And if there were no cars, people might
become healthier because if there were no cars, they would exercise more. Also, the air
would become cleaner if there were less cars causing pollution. This would be a really
positive change!

Without cars, people would have to walk more, and people might become healthier because
they would exercise more. Also, the air would become cleaner which would be a really
positive change!

Which do you prefer? Why?

To add extra conditions this way you need to use the passive voice:

would
be
could + + past participle
have to be
might

The starting hypothetical condition of the example essay is what would change if there were
no gas or electricity.Look back at the essay to see where this can be used. (You might

Example: (Without gas or electricity) A fire would have to be built each morning.

Now you try to finish the sentences.

1. The house ___________________________________________________________

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2. Breakfast ___________________________________________________________
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3. Water for shaving, bathing and washing __________________________________
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4. Bicycles or horses ____________________________________________________
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5. Work lunches ________________________________________________________
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6. Lamps that burn animal fat _____________________________________________
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7. Life in general ________________________________________________________
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 Choose a present or future unreal situation which would have an effect on your daily
life (or the lives of other people. You could choose something thats funny, or
something thats serious.

When you are choosing your topic, try to think about what ideas or points you could
make with your essay. In the example essay, the main point was that life without gas
or electricity would be very different to life now - the writer also included other
ideas (life without gas and electricity would be simpler and harder), but the main
point is the one that they wrote the most about.

Plan out your essay. In the introduction you should start with a real, general topic,
and then focus on the unreal condition. You might find it helpful to think about the
essay like a day or a year and use that to put your thoughts in order. (First paragraph
- what would happen/what would be different in the morning. Second paragraph -
afternoon. Third paragraph - evening.)
.
Here are some possible subjects for you to write about:

How your life would be different if you...

were married. (Or divorced if youre already married.)
a boy/a girl. (Whichever one youre not now.)
were living in a different country now.
were deaf/blind.
very rich/handsome/beautiful/ugly/poor.

What life would be like now if...

there were no internet.
robots to do everything for us.
there were no coffee/chocolate/alcohol/religion.
we didnt need to eat because we could just take a pill to get all the
food we needed.
Taiwan were totally under Chinese control.
all the bees had died.
we all had to stop using plastic bags.