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Conditionals and Wishes
Conditionals and Wishes
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If it rains, we will stay at home. – Unless it doesn’t rain, we will stay at home.
He will arrive late if he doesn’t hurry up. – He will arrive late unless he hurries up.
Peter will buy a new car if he gets his raise. – Peter won’t buy a new car unless he gets
his raise.
I won the I would travel around There's a very small chance of winning the
If
lottery the world. lottery, so the trip is unlikely
We can use other modal verbs in the past tense in the result part of the sentence:
IF Condition Result Certainty
WOULD + base
past simple
verb
I had more I should learn some Although unlikely to happen, the speaker is saying that it
If
time, more about IT. would be a good idea, but is not committed to it.
With the verb to be, there are two forms that can be used with I, he, she & it:
IF Condition Result
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If I were you, I'd marry her.
If I had known, I would have helped. I didn't know and didn't help.
MIXED CONDITIONALS
We can form mixed conditionals, if the context permits it, by combining an if-clause from one
type with a main clause from another.
If clause Result clause
Type 2 Type 1
If the plane landed late last night, he won’t be on time for work today.
Type 2 Type 3
If you were less impulsive, you wouldn’t have spoken to your supervisor like
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that.
Type 3 Type 2
If I hadn’t drunk the bad milk, I would be fine now.
WISHES
We can use wish/if only to express a wish.
Verb Tense Example Use
+ past simple/past continuous I wish I was/were 10 years old. - to say that we would like
(but I’m not) something to be different about a
If only I were travelling with present situation
you and not alone! It would be
much more fun. (but I’m not)
+ past perfect I wish I had saved more money - to express regret about
during my twenties. (but I something which happened or
didn’t) didn’t happen in the past
If only I hadn’t been so harsh to
her! We could still be friends.
(but I was)
+ subject + would + bare I wish you would stop spreading - to express: - a polite imperative
infinitive rumours. - a desire for a
If only it would be sunny on my situation or person’s behaviour
birthday. to change
- If only is used in exactly the same way as wish but is more emphatic or more dramatic.
- We can use were instead of was after wish and if only: I wish I were/was a famous writer!
- After the subject pronouns I and we, we can use could instead of would: I wish I could study
art history.
Bibliography