P

a
g
e
1

A. Answer the questions with yes or no.

1. If the weather had been good yesterday, our picnic would not have been canceled.
a. Was the picnic canceled?
b. Was the weather good?

2. If I had an envelope and a stamp, I would mail this letter right now.
a. Do I have an envelope and a stamp now?
b. Do I want to mail this letter right now?
c. Am I going to mail the letter right now?

3. Ann would have made it to class on time this morning if the bus hadnt been late.
a. Did Ann try to make to class on time?
b. Did Ann make it to class on time?
c. Was the bus late?

4. If the hotel had been built to withstand an earthquake, it would not have collapsed.
a. Was the hotel built to withstand an earthquake?
b. Did the hotel collapse?

5. If I were a carpenter, I would build my own house.
a. Do I want to build my own house?
b. Am I going to build my own house?
c. Am I a carpenter?

6. If I didnt have any friends, I would be lonely.
a. Am I lonely?
b. Do I have friends?

7. If Bob had asked me to keep the news a secret, I wouldnt have told anyone.
a. Did I tell anybody the news?
b. Did Bob ask me to keep it a secret?

P
a
g
e
2

8. If Ann and Jan, who are twins, dressed alike and had the same hairstyle, I wouldnt be able to tell
them apart.
a. Do Ann and Jan dress alike?
b. Do they have the same hairstyle?
c. Can I tell them apart?

B. Complete the sentences with the verbs in parentheses.

1. If I have enough apples, I (bake) an apple pie this afternoon.
2. If I had enough apples, I (bake) an apple pie this afternoon.
3. I will fix your bicycle if I (have) a screwdriver of the proper size.
4. I would fix your bicycle if I (have) a screwdriver of proper size.
5. Sally always answers the phone if she (be) in her office.
6. Sally would answer the phone if she (be) in her office.
7. I (be, not) a student in this class if English (be)
my native language.
8. Most people know that oil floats on water. If you pour oil on water, it (float)
..
9. If there (be) no oxygen on earth, life as we know it (exist, not)
.
10. My evening news paper has been late every day this week. If the paper (arrive, not)
on time today, Im going to cancel my subscription.
11. If I (be) a bird, I (want, not) to live
my whole life in a cage.
12. How old (human beings, live) to be if all diseases in the
world (be) completely eradicated?
13. If you boil water, it (disappear) into the atmosphere as vapor.
14. If people (have) .. paws instead of hands with fingers and opposable
thumbs, the machines we use in everyday life (have to) .. be
constructed very differently. We (be, not) able to turn knobs, push
small buttons, or hold tools and utensils securely.


P
a
g
e
3

C. Under what conditions, if any, would you
1. exceed the speed limit while driving?
2. lie to your best friend?
3. disobey an order from your boss?
4. steal food?
5. carry a friend on your back for a long distance?
6. not pay your rent?

















P
a
g
e
4

D. Change the statements into conditional sentences.

1. Roberto came, so I wasnt disappointed. But .
But if he hadnt come, I would have been disappointed.
2. There are so many bugs in the room because there isnt a screen on the window. But

3. I didnt buy a bicycle because I didnt have enough money. But

4. I wont buy a bicycle because I dont have enough money. But

5. You got into so much trouble because you didnt listen to me. But

6. The woman didnt die because she received immediate medical attention. But

7. Nadia didnt pass the entrance examination, so she wasnt admitted to the university. But

8. We ran out of gas because we didnt stop at the service station. But











P
a
g
e
5

E. Make an if-clause from the given information and then supply a result clause using your
own words.
EXAMPLES: I wasnt late for work yesterday.
If I had been late for work yesterday, I would have missed the regular morning
meeting.
Tom asked my permission before he took my bicycle.
if Tom hadnt asked my permission before he took my bicycle, I would have been
angry.

1. I wasnt absent from class yesterday.

2. I dont have enough energy today.

3. Ocean water is salty.

4. Our teacher likes his/her job.

5. People dont have wings.

6. You didnt ask for my opinion.

7. Water is heavier than air.

8. Most nations support world trade agreement.







P
a
g
e
6

F. Complete the sentences with the verbs in parentheses.
1. You should tell your father exactly what happened. If I (be) .. you, I (tell)
.. him the truth as soon as possible.
2. If I (have) my camera with me yesterday, I (take)
a picture of Alex standing on his head.
3. Im almost ready to plant my garden. I have a lot of seeds. Maybe I have more than I need. If I
(have) more seeds than I need, I (give)
some to my neighbor.
4. George has only two pairs of socks. If he (have) .. more than two
pairs of socks, he (have to, not) .. wash his socks so
often.
5. The cowboy pulled his gun to shoot at the rattlesnake, but he was too late. If he (be)
.. quicker to pull the trigger, the snake (bite, not)
him on the foot. Its a good thing he was wearing
heavy leather boots.
6. What (we, use) .. to look at ourselves when we comb our hair
if we (have, not) .. mirrors?
7. Its been a long drought. It hasnt rained for over a month. If it (rain, not)
soon, a lot of crops (die) If the
corps (die) , many people (go)
hungry this coming winter.
8. According to one scientific theory, an asteroid collided with the earth millions of years ago,
causing changes in the earths climate. Some scientists believe that if this asteroid (collide, not)
with the earth, the dinosaurs (become, not)
extinct. Can you imagine what the world (be)
.. like today if dinosaurs (exist, still)
.? Do you think it (be)
.. possible for dinosaurs and human beings to coexist on
the same planet?



P
a
g
e
7

G. Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verbs in parentheses. Some of the
sentences are contrary to fact, and some are not.

1. I am not an astronaut. If I (be) an astronaut, I (take)
my camera with me on the rocket ship next month.
2. That sounds like a good job offer. I (accept) .. it if I (be)
you.
3. It is expensive to call across the ocean. However, if transoceanic telephone calls (be)
cheap, I (call) my family
every day and (talk) .. for hours.
4. The teacher was absent today, so class was canceled. If she (be) .. absent
again tomorrow, class (cancel) tomorrow, too.
5. Sea water is salty. If the oceans (consist) of fresh water, there (be)
plenty of water to irrigate all of the deserts in the world to
provide an abundant food supply for the entire population of the earth.

H. Complete the sentences with the verbs in parentheses.

1. I am sorry you had to take a cab to the airport. I didnt know you needed a ride. If you (tell)
...... me, I (give) you a ride gladly.
2. I got wet because I didnt take my umbrella. However, I (get, not)
.. wet if I (remember) .. to
take my umbrella with me yesterday.
3. Many people were not satisfied with the leader after he took office. If they (know)
more about his planned economic program, they (vote, not)
.. for him.
4. You made a lot of unnecessary mistakes in your composition. You (get)
a better grade if you (use) .. either a
dictionary or the spell checker on your computer to check your spelling.
5. A: Ann, (you, take) that job if you (know)
that you had to work nights?
B: No way. I had no idea Id have to work the late night hours theyve made me working.

P
a
g
e
8

6. A: Oh, no! Ive lost it!
B: Lost what?
A: The address for my job interview this afternoon. I wrote it on a match book.
B: A match book! If you (write) .. the address in your appointment
book where it belongs, you (lose, not) it. When are you going to
get organized?

I. Complete the sentences with the words in parentheses.
1. If I (have) wings, I (have to, not) .. take an
airplane to fly home.
2. (people, be) .. able to fly if they (have)
feathers instead of hair?
3. This box has got to be in Chicago tomorrow. Im going to send it by express mail. Im sure if I
(send) .. it today by overnight express, it (arrive)
in time.
4. I didnt know the Newtons were going to bring two other people to dinner last night. If anyone
else (bring) an extra guest, we (have, not)
enough seats at the table.
5. A: I dont understand anything in this class. Its boring. And Im getting a failing grade.
B: If I (feel) . The way you do about it, I (drop)
the class as soon as possible.
6. Ive never understood why people build houses on flood plains. If we (have)
.. heavy rains in the spring, the river through my hometown
(rise, always) above its banks and (flood)
.. the low-lying areas of the town. Some houses have been flooded
a half dozen times in the last 20 years.
7. A: Im exhausted, and were no closer to a solution to this problem after nine hours of work.
B: Why dont you go home and get some sleep, and Ill keep working. If I (discover)
a solution before morning, I (call)
you immediately. I promise.

P
a
g
e
9

8. A: I cant believe that you havent finished that report. What will I use in the committee meeting
at noon today?
B: Im really sorry. If I (know) you needed it today, I (stay)
up all night last night and (finish)
it.

J. Using the given information, create conditional sentences.

1. I was sick yesterday, so I didnt go to work.

2. Because Alan never eats breakfast, he always overeats at lunch.

3. Kostas was late to his own wedding because his watch was slow.

4. I dont ride the bus to work every morning because its always so crowded.

5. Sara didnt know that highway 57 was closed, so she didnt take an alternative route.

6. Camille couldnt finish unloading the truck because no one was there to help her.









P
a
g
e
1
0

K. Write the correct form of verbs in brackets to complete the conditional sentences in this
article. Use modal verbs if you think they are appropriate.

Its January 1
st
. youre on the bathroom scale, groaning. If you (eat) that last
piece of Christmas pud, perhaps you wouldnt have put on that extra kilo. Never mind, you can lose
it and get fit at the gym!
Or is that the right thing to do? If youre unfit, you (stand) a huge
chance of injuring yourself in the gym or on the squash court. You must take care before launching
yourself into a vigorous exercise routine: if you dont treat your body with respect, it (function, not)
.. as you want it to. The knee, in particular, can cause untold problems. We
(have, not) .. problems with our knees if we still (walk)
.. on all fours, but theyre not up to a vertical pounding on the treadmill for
an hour a day. All of our joints can cause problems; if you (want) to
play football safely, make sure you wear the right boots to protect your ankles. Decent coaching (be)
essential if youre going to take up a racket sport: something as simple as a
wrong-size grip can cause tennis elbow.
Many sport injuries are caused by insufficient warm-ups. If everyone spent a few minutes stretching
their muscles before exercising, they (experience) .. much less pain
during exercise itself. But people can be stubborn about pain when exercising. The phrase no pain,
no gain is rubbish. Should you feel pain when youre exercising, you (stop)
at once!
Sport has so many other hazards, though. Golf, you would think, is relatively harmless. Not so for
Anthony Phua, a Malaysian golfer who was killed by getting in the way of his partners swing. Now, if
he hadnt taken up that particular form of exercise in the first place, it (happen)
.
What can you do if you (want, not) to risk sport, but you still want to
lose weight? Well, its not all bad news for couch potatoes. If youre happy to lose calories steadily
but slowly, just (stay) .. at home: sleeping burns 60 calories an hour, ironing
132 and cooking 190. Just dont eat what you cook!




P
a
g
e
1
1

L. Rephrase the information in each paragraph to use a conditional sentence.
1. Forest fires are breaking out all over South-East Asia. Something has to be done to control these
fires or the smog crisis of two years ago will be repeated.
There will be a repeat of the smog crisis of two years ago if nothing is done to control the
fires.
2. The forecast is that the weather will stay dry, but only heavy rain can avert the crisis.
If it doesnt rain, ......

3. The government stopped releasing pollution levels in June because it didnt want to frighten off
tourists. The tourist industry hasnt yet suffered.
The tourist industry might .
..
4. Government officials are advising people with respiratory problems to wear face masks.
The Government says: You should wear

5. The governments involved didnt take positive action after the 1997 crisis. Environmentalists
think this is why the current crisis has happened.
If the governments involved

6. One of the problems is that few of the countries affected have a Ministry of the Environment, so
there is no serious environmental protection.
There might be more .
..






P
a
g
e
1
2

M. Match each if-clause (1-5) with two possible main clauses (A-L). Then complete the main
clauses using the words in brackets. Use modal verbs if possible.
0. If Bill Gates hadnt been in the right place at the right time,
. B, E .
1. If athletes today didnt take their training so seriously,
2. If John Lennon and Paul McCartney hadnt met,
3. If Oppenheimer hadnt discovered how to build an atomic bomb,
4. If it werent possible for scientists to isolate individual genes,
5. If the printing press had not been invented,

A. a cure for cancer imminent. (be, not)
B. he . wouldnt be .the richest man in the world now. (be, not)
C. Hiroshima and Nagasaki .. (be destroyed, not)
D. it possible to extend education to most people. (be, not)
E. Microsoft . wouldnt have become . a household name. (be, not)
F. much of our history .. unknown to us. (be)
G. sport so exciting to watch. (be, not)
H. the Beatles . (never, be, formed)
I. the ethical debate around cloning an issue. (be, not)
J. the pop music of today very different. (be)
K. the world .. a more secure and peaceful place. (be)
L. they .. so many records in recent years. (break, not)








P
a
g
e
1
3

N. Read each short text and the conditional sentences that follow it. Tick () the correct
conditional sentences. One or two may be correct in each case. Put a cross () by the
incorrect ones. Think about the meaning as well as the grammar.
0. Thanks for looking after the house while Im away. The only difficulty might be the burglar
alarm, which occasionally goes off for no reason. The police always follow up an alarm,
but just tell them that its a bit temperamental.

A. If the alarm goes off, the police will come.
B. If the alarm were to go off, the police can come.
C. If the alarm should sound, the police will come.

1. The crash of the Air France Concorde has now been attributed to a piece of metal on the
runway, apparently from a Continental Airlines DC10 which had taken off minutes before.
The metal caused one of Concordes tires to burst, which in turn ruptured the fuel tank on
the left-hand side of the plane.

A. If the runway were swept after each take-off, the disaster might have been averted. ..
B. If the runway had been swept after the DC10 take-off, the disaster could have been
averted.
.
C. If the runway hadnt been swept after the DC10 take-off, the disaster might have been
averted.
.

2. The government urges that all children and teenagers are vaccinated against meningitis C.
A. If your child had not been vaccinated, please make an appointment with the nurse. .
B. If your child has not been vaccinated, please make an appointment with the nurse. .
C. If your child was not vaccinated, please make an appointment with the nurse. .

3. I havent seen the result, but Rusedski must have finished his second round match against
Pioline by now.

A. If he gets through this one, hell be delighted. .
B. If hes got through this one, hell be delighted. .
C. If he got through this one, hed be delighted. .



P
a
g
e
1
4

4. Try to engage the potential client in conversation as soon as possible, to make it more
difficult for him to put the phone down.

A. If the client wont engage, politely thank him for listening and hang up. .
B. If the client doesnt engage, politely thank him for listening and hang up. .
C. If the client wouldnt engage, you should thank him for listening and hang up. .

5. Over twenty-five per cent of people who successfully complete our course find that they
recover the course fees within a few months through income from having their work
published.

A. Should you not recover the fees within a year of completing the course, we would give
you a full refund.
.
B. Did you not recover the fees within a year of completing the course, we would give you a
full refund.
.
C. If you hadnt recovered the fees within a year of completing the course, we would give
you a full refund.
.

6. In last weeks peaceful demonstrations in Burma, one demonstrator was seriously injured
when she fell and was trampled by the crowd trying to flee from the water cannons. She is
still in hospital in critical condition.

A. If the demonstrator didnt fall, she might not be in hospital now. .
B. If the demonstrator hadnt fallen, she might not be in hospital now. .
C. If the demonstrator hadnt fallen, she might not have been seriously injured. .