The Distance Delta

Centre Number: 10239

LSA1: Systems –
Grammar
Helping Intermediate Learners with Hypothetical
Language

Hanna Loch

Word count: 2434 (Word 2013)

Date: 03.06.2015

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Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................ 3
ANALYSIS...................................................................................................................................................... 3
Meaning/Use............................................................................................................................................... 3
What would happen if …? (Type 2)......................................................................................................... 4
What would have happened if …? (Type 3).............................................................................................. 4
Form............................................................................................................................................................ 5
Structure.................................................................................................................................................. 6
Negative.............................................................................................................................................. 6
Questions............................................................................................................................................ 6
Contractions........................................................................................................................................ 7
Pronunciation.......................................................................................................................................... 7
PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS............................................................................................................................. 7
Problem 1 – Use & Meaning: mis-using Type 2 conditional for Type 3.....................................................7
Solution 1................................................................................................................................................. 8
Aim.......................................................................................................................................................... 8
Procedure................................................................................................................................................ 8
Evaluation................................................................................................................................................ 8
Problem 2: Form – syntactic complexity of Type 3 conditional................................................................9
Solution 2................................................................................................................................................. 9
Aim.......................................................................................................................................................... 9
Procedure................................................................................................................................................ 9
Evaluation................................................................................................................................................ 9
Problem 3 – Phonology - contractions................................................................................................... 10
Solution 3............................................................................................................................................... 10
Aim........................................................................................................................................................ 10
Procedure.............................................................................................................................................. 10
Evaluation.............................................................................................................................................. 10
Problem 4 – Avoiding conditionals in academic writing (IELTS preparation classes)...............................11
Solution 4............................................................................................................................................... 11
Aim........................................................................................................................................................ 11
Procedure.............................................................................................................................................. 11
Evaluation.............................................................................................................................................. 12
Problem 5 – Pronunciation of contractions in Type 3 conditional..........................................................12
Solution 5............................................................................................................................................... 12
Aim........................................................................................................................................................ 12

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 Procedure.............................................................................................................................................. 12
Evaluation.............................................................................................................................................. 12
BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................................... 13
Appendix 1 – DICTOGLOSS AND GUIDED DISCOVERY................................................................................. 13
Dictogloss.............................................................................................................................................. 13
Guided Discovery................................................................................................................................... 14
Appendix 2 – Pronunciation....................................................................................................................... 15
Appendix 3 - IELTS Writing TASK 2............................................................................................................. 16
Appendix 4 – Pronunnciation Type 3 conditional....................................................................................... 17

INTRODUCTION

In my experience, speculating with ease about present/future and past events can
have very empowering and motivating effect on B1/B2 students who often struggle
with the intermediate plateau. Furthermore, mastering Type 2 and 3 conditionals
helps my students getting higher band scores in IELTS by adding more complex
language resources to their linguistic repertoire.

The main problem with hypothetical language that I have encountered is misusing
Type 2 conditional for Type 3. I have noticed that many teachers feel uncomfortable
teaching Type 3 conditional. ‘If you are lucky enough, you’ll never have to teach the
third conditional’ – a colleague told me during my initial training. Why does Type 3
conditional make us tense and edgy? Perhaps, our unease stems from learners’
difficulties and challenging questions we need to answer in class.

In this essay, I have chosen to focus on Type 2 and 3 conditionals to talk about
present/future and past hypothetical situations, If only and I wish are beyond my
scope. I believe, this focus is of most benefit to my learners and that it will enable me
to deal with learners’ problems more effectively.

ANALYSIS

Meaning/Use

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Hypothetical meaning contrasts with factual meaning, and refers to situations that
are assumed to be improbable or impossible (Thornbury,1997), this implies an
assumption, by the speaker, that the happening described did not, does not, or will
not take place.(Leech 1997) (Yule, 1998).

What would happen if …? (Type 2)

The most common contexts for this conditional involve imaginary or fictional
situations. At the moment of speaking we see the action or event as being
impossible, e.g. If we didn’t have to study, we could have a lot more fun (but we have
to study).

We use Type 2 conditional to:

 Express dreams and unfulfilled ambitions, e.g. – If I won the lottery, I’d travel
around the world. (winning the lottery is possible but unlikely in the speaker’s
mind)
 support our opinions in academic writing, e.g. Schools have an important role
to play in children's health. If schools banned junk food, they would help to
reduce the problem of childhood obesity. (Schools have an important role to
play because they can reduce the problem by banning junk food.)
 offer suggestion or advice – If I were you, I’d leave him. (I think you should
leave him.)
 express criticism – If they were his, he’d clean them. (so should you) (Aitken,
2002)
 make contingency plans for unlikely future events: What would you do if you
lost your job? (ibid.) (Although it is unlikely for you to lose your job, you should
have a plan B)
 suggest improvements: If you hung up your trousers, they wouldn’t get
creased. (but you did not so they got creased.)

What would have happened if …? (Type 3)

We use the third or past conditional to speculate about past events, and about how
things that happened or didn’t happen might have affected other things in the past.

We use it to:

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  make excuses e.g. If the teacher hadn’t made the test so hard, I could have
passed it. (The teacher did make the test hard and I didn’t pass.)
 express regrets, e.g. If I had studied more, I wouldn’t have failed the exam. (I
failed the exam because I didn’t study hard enough.)
 reproach, e.g. If you hadn’t driven so fast, you would never have had the
accident. (We had the accident because you drove so fast.)
 express a relief, e.g. We were going so fast that if we had hit the trees we
would have been killed instantly. (Luckily, we did not hit the tree and we are
still alive.)
 re-imagine history and biography, e.g. If Kennedy hadn’t been shot,…(but
he was) or If I hadn’t met my husband,… (but I did meet him).

Past tense forms in the if-clause indicate remoteness of the possibility of the event
(Leech, 1979). Would expresses an event which is psychologically remote for the
speaker (Lewis, 1986).

Form

The conditional clause expresses the condition on which the situation described in
the main clause depends. The verb forms in unreal conditionals are back-shifted as
in reported speech, for present or future reference, the past tense is used in the if-
clause (Thornbury, 1997).

unreal

Time reference if clause main clause

(conditional clause)

If + past tense, would + bare infinitive

present/future
If I were hungry, * I’d (would) eat something.
(non-past)

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 If +past perfect, would + have +past
participle

If I’ d (had) been hungry, I’d (would) have eaten

past full form
something.
*There is increasing use of was instead of subjunctive were

 Would have may be replaced by any other past perfect modal except ought
to/should for obligation, e.g. If I had known, I could have/might have/
should have told you. (Aitken, 2002)

 The order of the clauses can be changed. We separate the two clauses by a
comma if we begin with the if-clause. We don’t use a comma when we begin
with the conditional clause (Parrott, 2012 p.272), e.g.

 I would eat something if I were hungry.

 I would have eaten something if I had been hungry.

Structure

Negative

If I weren’t hungry, I wouldn’t eat anything.

(If + subject + past simple + object, subject + wouldn’t + bare infinitive + object)

If she hadn’t wanted to leave home, she wouldn’t have got married.

(If + subject + past perfect + object, subject + wouldn’t + have + past participle
+object)

Questions

Would you run if you saw a lion?

(inversion: would + subject + bare infinitive + if + subject + past simple + object)

If he had known, would he have come?

(If + subject + past perfect, would + subject + have +past participle)

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Contractions

Positive
 ’d = would or had
 would’ve = would have

Negative
 wouldn’t = would not, wouldn’t’ve = would not have
 haven’t = have not
 hadn’t = had not

Pronunciation

 intonation: rise on the first clause, a fall on the second

 affirmative and negative contractions: would've /ˈwʊdəv/ and wouldn't've /
ˈwʊdntəv/

 contractions I’d
 In casual conversation if is often barely pronounced. The vowel disappears
entirely, and even /f/ is whispered. A phrase like If I were you is pronounced
/faɪwəjuː/ (Parrott, 2012).

PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS

Problem 1 – Use & Meaning: mis-using Type 2 conditional for

Type 3

In all teaching contexts I have experienced, many learners have problems

distinguishing between the second (present/future) and the third (past) conditional.
As a result, even students at B1/B2 and higher levels tend to avoid the third
conditional and mis-use the second for the third. They often adapt the second

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conditional as the only hypothetical structure in English. Nam, my Intermediate
student in Vietnam told me once:

If I knew it was your birthday, I would come to your party.

Instead of using the past conditional:

If I had known it was your birthday, I would have come to your party.

Solution 1
Aim

I use a dictogloss activity (see Appendix 1) to encourage learners to notice

contextualised and natural use of the third conditional to speculate about past events
and how they influenced other things in the past. After the lesson students should be
better able to understand that we use Type 3 conditional (not 2) to hypothesise about
the past.

Procedure

The teacher introduces topic of big decisions and how they influence our lives. While
I read a short story (4-5- sentences) about how different decisions influenced my life,
students answer a simple gist task. Was the story about the past, present or future?
During the second hearing students write down as many key words as they can. First
in pairs, and then collaboratively they reconstruct the text. I write their reconstructed
text on the board. The students compare it to the original. They discuss differences.
The students get a guided discovery worksheet to focus on form. Next, students try
to write a similar text about their own lives. If time allows students read their texts to
each other to choose the most interesting one.

Evaluation

I agree with Thornbury (2006) that the dictogloss technique is useful in guiding
students towards noticing the gap between their present language competence and
their target competence. Processing the text for meaning first ensures that
understanding of the context comes before learners focus on the structure. The
context should make it clear that we are talking about the past, not the
present/future. The students should find writing a similar story about their own lives

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meaningful and engaging. Some learners, however, might find reconstructing a text
from memory very challenging and lose interest.

Problem 2: Form – syntactic complexity of Type 3 conditional

Learners find Type 3 conditional sentences far too complex. For this reason they
often forget key components of form, e.g. If I had known it was your birthday, I
would come to your party (forgetting have in this sentence turns it into a Type 2
conditional). If had is contracted (‘d), it can be easily confused with would, e.g –
students might think that ‘If I’d known’ stands for ‘If I would known’. Type 3
conditional, thus, is not a structure which is easily picked up simply through
exposure, and is probably best learnt through the conscious study and application of
rules (Thornbury, 2006).

Solution 2
Aim

To focus on form and word order to help students make error free sentences. To
provide the learners with an opportunity to familiarise themselves with a new item by
means of unhurried written work.

Procedure

This procedure is based on ‘How to Teach Grammar’ (Thornbury, 2006, pp.97-100). I

distribute cards to different students, on which the following words are written:
studied, passed, have, had, if, he, Jack, would, and ask them to stick them on the
board to form a sentence. I number each word from 1 – 8. Then I distribute further
word cards to place them in the appropriate column (1-8). Students use the table to
write as many sentences as they can, e.g. If Jill hadn’t studied, she would have
failed, etc.

Evaluation

Written exercises are effective for targeting accuracy and restructuring. It is

important, however, that the exercise challenges learners to engage with both form

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and meaning, and unless there is some kind of problem-solving element, its value
will be reduced (Thornbury, 2006).

Problem 3 – Phonology - contractions

Students of all levels and nationalities over stress if which can make them sound
unnatural while uttering conditional sentences. Furthermore, they forget to use
contractions, especially (‘d) for would or had is very confusing and problematic. My
Arab students tend to avoid contracted forms all together. In some languages like
Polish there are no contracted forms.

Solution 3
Aim

To practice more natural and less mechanical pronunciation and to focus on

phonology and meaning rather than on form.

Procedure

This activity is based on the song ‘If I were a boy’ by Beyoncé and I have adapted it
from Sandy Millin’s website. Students need to fill in the gaps in the first eight verses
of the song with words provided in a box on the right (Appendix 2). They do that in
pairs. Then they listen to the song to check the answers. Before they listen again the
teacher tell students to listen to the pronunciation of ‘d. Next students sing the
beginning of the song trying to copy pronunciation of contractions. The teacher
reminds the students why contractions are important and encourages students to
listen to the next 4 verses and copy pronunciation. At first, it is difficult but later
students become more confident. Students try to make their own sentences by
changing the coloured parts in each sentence. When students read their sentenced
to each other, they are encouraged to use contractions and correct each other. If
students want to we can sing the whole song together.

Evaluation

Although there are always some students who are uncomfortable while
experimenting with their voices, most students enjoy this activity. It is particularly

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successful with teenagers who are keen on listening to music. Singing the song can
be a powerful technique enhancing language retention.

Problem 4 – Avoiding conditionals in academic writing (IELTS

preparation classes)

Many Saudi students struggle to get a 6.5 or 7 in IELTS, I believe this is due to the
fact that they avoid using complex structures such as Type 2 and 3conditionals in
their essays. Students are often familiar with the forms but are not quite sure how to
use them to improve their writing.

Solution 4
Aim

To make students realise that using Type 2 and 3 conditionals in Writing Task 2 will
not only improve their grammar but also make the writing process easier by
improving their coherence. To show students how hypothetical language is used to
illustrate the main idea and opinions.

Procedure

This activity is taken form ‘IELTS Graduation’ (Allen, 2006, pp.96 -97). It focuses on

developing arguments about the use of public transport with the use of conditional
forms. Students are given five sentences which they transform into conditional
sentences (Type 2 and 3 or mixed) to hypothesise about the past or present/future
(see Appendix 3).

For example:
1. Private cars should be banned from city centres.

 If public cars were banned from city centres, more people would be forced
to use public transport

2. Laws to discourage the use of private transport should have been

introduced before cities became so polluted.

 If laws to discourage the use of private transport had been introduced earlier,
our cities would not be so polluted.

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Evaluation

Students find this activity very useful as it is simple and based on structures they are
already familiar with. Therefore, they can focus their attention on the use and
meaning without being distracted by the form. Using conditionals is an easy way to
improve their coherence and extend the range of their vocabulary by introducing
more topic language in their examples.

Problem 5 – Pronunciation of contractions in Type 3 conditional

Students often have problems with pronunciation of affirmative and negative

contractions, e.g would've /ˈwʊdəv/ and wouldn't've /ˈwʊdntəv/.

Solution 5
Aim

To drill contracted forms of past modal verbs, including positive forms such as
could’ve, should’ve and would’ve and negative woudn’t’ve, shouldn’t’ve and
couldn’t’ve.

Procedure

Students do a gap fill activity from NCE Intermediate (Cunningham, 2005,p 123) (see
Appendix 4). During feedback students drill pronunciation. Teacher elicits the
difference between pronunciation of contractions and full forms by asking clarification
questions.

Evaluation

Although this activity doesn’t focus on Type 3 conditionals, it is very helpful for drilling
pronunciation of contracted past modal forms. Students find it beneficial because all
of those forms can be found in the main clause of Type 3 conditional.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aitken, R. 2002 Teaching Tenses. Ideas for presenting and practising tenses in
English. ELB Publishing
Leech, G. 1971 Meaning and the English Verb Longman
Lewis, M 1986 The English Verb LTP Teacher Training
Parrott, M. 2012 Grammar for English Language Teachers CUP
Swan, M. 2009 Practical English Usage (3rd ed) Oxford University Press
Thornbury, S 2006 How to Teach Grammar. Longman
Thornbury, S 1997 About Language Cambridge Teacher Training And Development
Yule, G 1998 Explaining English Grammar OUP

Course Books
Allen, M 2006 IELTS Graduation Macmillan
Cunningham, S 2005 Cutting Edge, Intermediate, 3rd edition , Pearson Longman

Appendix 1 – DICTOGLOSS AND GUIDED

DISCOVERY

Dictogloss

What would have happened if …?

I sometimes look back at my life thinking about my decisions. What would have
happened if I hadn’t become an English teacher? Surely, my life wouldn’t have been
as exciting. If I’d stayed in Europe, I wouldn’t have ridden a scooter in Vietnam. I also
wouldn’t have met my husband. If I hadn’t met him, I’d still be single! Now your turn!
What would have happened if you hadn’t made your most important decisions?

Guided Discovery

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Look at this sentence:

If I’d stayed in Europe, I wouldn’t have ridden a scooter in Vietnam.

1. Is the sentence true or hypothetical?

2. Does it refer to the present or to the past?
3. Which part of the sentence is about a past condition?
4. Which part of the sentence is about a past result?
5. What form of the verb comes after if?
_____________________________________________________________
6. What form of the verb comes in the main clause?
_____________________________________________________________
7. There is one sentence in the text with a past condition and a present result.
Can you find it?
______________________________________________________________

Appendix 2 – Pronunciation

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Appendix 3 - IELTS Writing TASK 2

IELTS GRADUATION, UNIT 6, pp 96-97

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Appendix 4 – Pronunnciation Type 3 conditional

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