© Pearson Education Limited

Second conditionals

If I were Alice, I would never go

to Wonderland again.

© Pearson Education Limited

Part 2
In this lesson, you will learn to use If I were … to
talk about imaginary situations.
Conditional sentences
Do you remember how we can talk about things that are
likely to happen in the future?

We use the simple We use will + verb (base

present in the if-clause. form) in the main clause.

If I do more exercise, I will become stronger.

This is a first conditional sentence.

If I were …
Then let’s take a look at this sentence.

This is a second conditional sentence.

If I were Pinocchio, I would never lie again.

How come we’re using the
past tense here?
If I were …
We use If + were to talk about things that will never
happen.

We use If + were to talk We use would in the main

about imaginary situations. clause.

If I were Pinocchio, I would never lie again.

…I will never lie again.

= We will never become Pinocchio!

If I were …
Let’s look at more examples.

If I were Violet, I would listen to Mr Wonka.

If I were the headmaster, I would cancel all

school exams.
Quick Check

1. There is a mistake in the following sentence.

Find the mistake and correct it.

would
If I were the queen, I will
invite my friends to the palace
for tea.
Quick Check

2. There is a mistake in the following sentence.

Find the mistake and correct it.

were
If I am Charlie, I would let
poor children eat my
chocolate for free.
Well done!