TITC

First conditional

Exercises

A Make sentences with ‘if’.

Match the first clause with the prompts for the second clause.
Also, use will / won’t / may / might / can / should / must .

Example: 1. If I arrive home late tonight, (e) I’ll come in quietly.

1. _____ I arrive home late tonight, (a) _____ be surprised.

2. _____ I don’t feel well tomorrow, (b) _____ they invite you?

3. _____ you go to the party, (c) _____ you speak quickly.

4. _____ they get married, (d) you _____ arrive at 6.30pm.

5. _____ you leave at 5.30pm, (e) I _____ come in quietly.

6. They _____ understand you, (f) _____ I can get a flight.

7. I _____ fly home on Sunday, (g) I _____ go to work.

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B Choose the correct form of the verb:
Example: Do you go / Will you go to the party if they invite / they’ll invite you?

_____Will you go to the party if they invite you?_____

1. I stay / I’ll stay at home if I don’t / won’t feel well tomorrow.

________________________________________________________

2. If the weather is / will be nice tomorrow, we can go to the beach.

________________________________________________________

3. It will be hard to find a hotel if we’ll arrive / we arrive late.

________________________________________________________

4. The alarm will ring if there is / will be a fire.

________________________________________________________

5. I’m / I’ll be surprised if they get / they’ll get married.

________________________________________________________

6. Unless you eat / don’t eat now, you are / you’ll be hungry later.

________________________________________________________

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First conditional
In this lesson you will cover the structure and usage of the first conditional.
The usage being, to talk about a likely situation in the future and to describe it’s result.

The structure is presented as;

‘If’ + present simple, ‘will / won’t’ + infinitive.
Where you talk about the likely situation with ‘if’ + present simple. You describe the result with
‘will’ or ‘won’t’. The lesson also points out that ‘will’ and ‘won’t’ can be replaced by other
modals such as might, may, can, should, must. You may also wish to introduce the use of
‘unless’ with a positive verb instead of ‘if’ with a negative.

E.g She won’t wear it if she doesn’t like it.>>>She won’t wear it unless she likes it.

As with other conditionals, the ‘if’ clause can go at the beginning or end of the sentence and
the two clauses are separated by a comma when the ‘if’ clause is first.

ENGAGE
Tell students your plans for next weekend and ask them to give you theirs as an opener.
After you have had sufficient feedback, say ‘what about if the weather is bad?’

Set them up in pairs and ask them to tell each other about how their plans might change.
After a minute or so, get feedback from students about their partners.

If you hear any correct sentences in feedback, in first conditional form, put one or two on the
board to take into study.

If you have time, talk about other things that should generate first conditional sentences, such
as ‘if I study/ work hard next week…’ and follow the same procedure.

STUDY
From what you have on the board in the Engage phase, elicit the structure and usage of the
sentence(s) as outlined in the teacher’s briefing notes.

A typical sentence might be;

If the weather is bad next weekend, I’ll stay at home and watch TV.

You could also use this sentence to elicit the use of modals ‘might / may’ instead of ‘will’

Following this you could elicit an alternative sentence that means the same.

If the weather isn’t bad next weekend, I’ll go out.

From this you can elicit the use of ‘unless’.

Unless the weather is bad next weekend, I’ll go out.

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STUDY
Activities:

A Make sentences with ‘if’.

B Choose the correct form of the verb:

ACTIVATE
There are two options for the Activate phase:

OPTION 1:

Give students only the ‘if’ clause of a conditional sentence and get them to compose their own
endings and then get them to give their endings to another team to play pelmanism with
(memory / matching / pairs). Feedback sentences before swapping to ensure they are correct.
See the student’s activity sheet, which should be copied onto card if possible, for clauses.

Variation ; give the students only the ‘result’ half of the sentence as a cue. Also see the
student’s activity sheet for examples.

OPTION 2:

Get students to make up their own superstitions. You will need to pre-teach ‘superstition’,
probably through context / example.

E.g If you walk under a ladder, you will have bad luck . If you see a small spider, you will be
rich.

After feedback, get students to discuss and vote for the best or funniest superstition.

At the end of the lesson, if you have time, there is a nice time-fill that is ideally suited to first
conditional.

Give the class one ‘if’ clause in first conditional and ask a student to complete it as a result.
The next student takes what is said, reforms it into an ‘if’ clause and the next one suggests a
result of this.

E.g. If I am ill tomorrow, I’ll stay at home.>>>> If I stay at home, I’ll miss the lesson.>> If I
miss the lesson… etc...

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Materials – option 1

If I go away on holiday this year…

………………………………………………………………….………….

If I lose all my money…

………………………………………………………………….………….

If we get too much homework…

………………………………………………………………….………….

If my friend gets into trouble…

………………………………………………………………….………….

If we finish early today…

………………………………………………………………….………….

I’ll eat my hat if…

………………………………………………………………….………….

This school will have to close if…

………………………………………………………………….………….

This school will have to close if…

………………………………………………………………….………….

I will be disappointed if…

………………………………………………………………….………….

Will you help me if…

………………………………………………………………….………….

Materials – option 2 on page 6

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My Superstitions
1. _______________________________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________________________

4. _______________________________________________________________

5. _______________________________________________________________

6. _______________________________________________________________

7. _______________________________________________________________

8. _______________________________________________________________

9. _______________________________________________________________

10. _____________________________________________________________

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