EXERCISE ONE
EXERCISE TWO
EXERCISE THREE
Second Conditional: unreal possibility or dream.
The second conditional
is like the first conditional. We are still thinking about the future.
We are thinking about a particular condition in the future, and the
result of this condition. But there is not a real possibility that this condition will happen. For example, you do not
have a lottery ticket. Is it possible to win? No! No lottery ticket, no
win! But maybe you will buy a lottery ticket in the future. So you can
think about winning in the future, like a dream. It's not very real, but
it's still possible.
IF | condition | result |
past simple | WOULD + base verb | |
If | I won the lottery | I would buy a car. |
Notice
that we are thinking about a future condition. We use the past simple
tense to talk about the future condition. We use WOULD + base verb to
talk about the future result. The important thing about the second
conditional is that there is an unreal possibility that the condition will happen.
Here are some more examples:
IF | condition | result |
past simple | WOULD + base verb | |
If | I married Mary | I would be happy. |
If | Ram became rich | she would marry him. |
If | it snowed next July | would you be surprised? |
If | it snowed next July | what would you do? |
result | IF | condition |
WOULD + base verb | past simple | |
I would be happy | if | I married Mary. |
She would marry Ram | if | he became rich. |
Would you be surprised | if | it snowed next July? |
What would you do | if | it snowed next July? |