Lengua Inglesa II

UNIT 6. CONDITIONAL
 CONDITIONAL IN ENGLISH
When we talk in English about the conditional, the first thing we have to mention
is that it can be seen from 2 points of view, real or unreal:

TYPES OF CONDITIONAL STRUCTURE

PRESENT Real Condition (Zero Conditional) If + present, present
PRESENT Unreal Condition (2nd Condition) If + past, would
PAST Real Condition If + past, past
PAST Unreal Condition (3rd Conditional) If + past perfect, would perfect
FUTURE Real Condition (1st Conditional) If + present, future (with will or going to)
FUTURE Unreal Condition If + past, would.

 MIXED CONDITIONAL

This kind of conditional is very common in spoken English, as its name says; it is
based on a mixture of various types of conditional structures which give the pair of
sentences another intention.

In order to understand all that, look at next examples of mixed conditional sentences:

-If she had signed up for the ski trip last week, she would be joining us tomorrow.
-If Sam spoke Russian, he would have translated the letter for you.
-If I didn’t have to come in class, I could easily give you a hand.

 WISH CLAUSES

This structure is used to express wishes about present, past and future. Its
translation can coincide with the Spanish one “Ojalá”, but sometimes we can
translate it into other forms.

1. WISHES ABOUT THE PRESENT (AND THE FUTURE)

If you want to talk about a present situation, you can use the next
structure:
Wish + past simple / past continuous
e.g.: I don’t earn much money. I wish I earned a lot of money.
However, there is another structure you can use if you want to talk about
an action and you want it to be changed in the future:
Wish + would/could + infinitive
e.g.: I wish she would be more open-minded.
2. WISHES ABOUT THE FUTURE (AND THE PRESENT)
When you talk about the future, you use the same structure as if it were a
present situation. The future in these cases can’t be changed (in theory),
and so the situation is seen as unreal and has to be referred to using past
tenses.
e.g.: I wish I didn’t have to go to the dentist tomorrow.
3. WISHES ABOUT THE PAST: REGRETS.
Lengua Inglesa II
UNIT 6. CONDITIONAL
When you think about a situation in the past, naturally you can’t change it.
Therefore this is a way to express regret. You have to use the next
structure to say so:
Wish + past perfect
e.g.: I wish I had taken the exam before.

EXERCISES CONDITIONAL (ADVANCED) C1-C2

Lengua Inglesa II
UNIT 6. CONDITIONAL
Lengua Inglesa II
UNIT 6. CONDITIONAL
SOLUCIONES A LOS EJERCICIOS.

1st Exercise
Suggested Answers:
2. If you’ve got/ If you have a student card you can get a discount at the bookshop.
3. If you promise to bring it back tomorrow you can borrow my laptop for the evening.
4. If we used/use more efficient light bulbs, there could be a 5% reduction in electricity
consumption. Or If people used/use…
5. If I had been promoted, I would have had to move to our head office in Madrid.
6. If you’re going to catch the 8.30 train, you’ll have to leave the house by 7.00./ If you
leave the house by 7.00, you’ll (be able to) catch the 8.30 train.
7. If I’d known you were a vegetarian, I wouldn’t have cooked lamb for dinner. Or If I
knew you were a vegetarian…
8. If I had studied harder, I wouldn’t have such a poorly paid job now.
2nd Exercise.
1. phone/ will make (or makes).
2. had bought / had / was / would stop
3rd Exercise.
2. A or B
3. A or B
4. B
5. A