Unit 10 | Session 1

Accidental discoveries - Big mistake!

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Speculate about events in the past
and talk about alternatives and possibilities
 Unit 10 | Session 1
Accidental discoveries – Big mistake!
LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Speculate about events in the past
and talk about alternatives and possibilities
Lesson overview
1 GET STARTED: Talking about discoveries
2 PREPARE: Past unreal conditionals
2 SPEAKING: Chain stories
4 PREPARE: Modals of past probability
5 SPEAKING: What should they have done?
6 PROGRESS CHECK
 GET STARTED
Talking about discoveries
Think about discoveries that have affected society. Use
the vocabulary to describe them. What would have
happened if people hadn’t made these discoveries?

make a discovery make a connection notice a phenomenon

make a breakthrough provide insight carry out research

face a challenge gain knowledge provide a solution

Scientists have gained a lot of knowledge about COVID 19 and

made breakthroughs with vaccines, but they haven’t provided
a solution for everybody who gets the virus.

That’s true, but if they hadn’t provided the vaccine

solution, many more people would’ve become very ill.
BACK in TIME to the PAST
The 3 rd Conditional

What would you have

done differently?
 If I had been alive
2000 years ago,
I would have been a
Roman

·yesterday
·last week
·last year
·when I
3rd Conditional was a child

If + PAST PERFECT , + WOULD HAVE + PARTICIPLE

How do we make the 3rd conditional?

Yesterday

·yesterday
3rd Conditional ·last week
·last year
·when I
was a child
How do we make the 3rd conditional?

Yesterday

If + PAST PERFECT ,
+ WOULD HAVE +
PARTICIPLE

·yesterday
3rd Conditional ·last week
If It had been sunny yesterday, I would ·last year
have gone to the beach ·when I
was a child
If + PAST PERFECT , + WOULD HAVE + PARTICIPLE
How do we make the 3rd conditional?
If... + HAD/N’T + PARTICIPLE, + WOULD/N’T have + PARTICIPLE

I I
been

,
You had / you would /
He hadn't been he wouldn't come
She come she have found
It found it done
We done we seen
They seen they

·yesterday
·last week
·last year
·when I
3rd Conditional was a child

If + PAST PERFECT , + WOULD HAVE + PARTICIPLE

Make a sentence in the 3rd conditional
If / thief / run faster /
police / not catch / him

·yesterday
·last week
·last year
·when I
3rd Conditional was a child

If + PAST PERFECT , + WOULD HAVE + PARTICIPLE

 If / thief / run faster /
police / not catch / him

If the thief had run faster, the

police wouldn't have caught him.

·yesterday
·last week
·last year
·when I
3rd Conditional was a child

If + PAST PERFECT , + WOULD HAVE + PARTICIPLE

 If / Titanic /
miss/
Iceberg / It /
not sink

·yesterday
·last week
·last year
·when I
3rd Conditional was a child

If + PAST PERFECT , + WOULD HAVE + PARTICIPLE

 If / Titanic /
miss/
Iceberg / It /
not sink

If the Titanic had missed the

iceberg, it wouldn't have sunk.

·yesterday
·last week
·last year
·when I
3rd Conditional was a child

If + PAST PERFECT , + WOULD HAVE + PARTICIPLE

PREPARE
Past unreal conditionals
Read the sentences. Do they refer to
events that happened or didn’t happen?
What is the difference between would and
might?
1. If Newton hadn’t been under an apple tree, he
would not have discovered gravity.
2. If Fleming hadn’t added bacteria to a petri dish,
he would not have discovered penicillin.
3. Spencer might not have discovered the
microwave if a candy bar had not melted in his
pocket.
PREPARE
Past unreal conditionals
Look at the pictures. Imagine a story. Think of three things this woman did. What would
have happened if she hadn’t done these things? What might have happened? Create a
story with past unreal conditional sentences.

If she hadn’t left home late, she

wouldn’t have sat in that traffic jam. If she had charged her phone,
she . . .
SPEAKING
Chain stories
Work in small groups. Think about a chain of events in
your life. How would things be different for you if past
events had happened differently? Share with your
group. Then ask your partners questions to keep their
chain of events going.

If my brother hadn’t moved to Berlin, I might not have

gone to Germany for vacation. I probably would’ve
gone to Australia instead. If I had gone to Australia, I
would’ve visited my friend in Sydney.

If you had visited your friend in Sydney,

would you have stayed with him?
PREPARE
Modals of past probability
Read this comment. Then complete the rules about
modals of past probability.

That was a really big mistake, and it was all my fault. I

should have paid more attention to what I was doing!
I could have turned the tap off as I always do! We can
fix the problem, but it will be expensive.

1. After the modal, use have + _______.

2. We use the modal _______ to criticize events from the past.
3. We use the modals _______ and _______ to suggest
alternatives to events from the past.
PREPARE
Modals of past probability
Think about a regret you have. Discuss the questions
below in groups. Use modals of past probability in
your answers.
1. Have you said or done something that you regretted?
2. Who was involved?
3. What did you do or not do?
4. What could or should you have done differently?
5. Do your partners agree with what you could or should have
done?

I shouldn’t have posted a photo of my

friend on social media. If I had asked her
permission first, she might have said yes.
But I didn’t, and now she’s mad at me.
SPEAKING
What should they have done?
Look at pictures A–C. What might have happened? What should the people have done
differently? Share your ideas in small groups. Then find other pictures online or on your
phone to talk about.

In A, they shouldn’t have put the plate of That might not have helped. The dog
cookies so close to the edge of the table. could’ve just jumped on the table.

A B C
PROGRESS CHECK

Now I can . . .

 talk about discoveries.

 use past unreal conditionals to describe hypothetical situations.

 describe mistakes and discuss right and wrong.

 use modals of past probability.

 Unit 10 | Session 1
Accidental discoveries – Big mistake!
LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Speculate about events in the past
and talk about alternatives and possibilities

Thank you!