Real / Unreal
Likely or unlikely to occur?
Jack works five days a week as an electrician. Most weekends, Jack goes out and mows the lawn. Jack likes the exercise and being outdoors. He also likes a neat well-kept lawn. However, occasionally the Little League calls him to referee a baseball game at the community ballpark on Saturday mornings. For this reason, he mows the lawn if he has time.
Ted works six days a week as a healthcare worker. He has almost no free time, and is usually exhausted on weekends. Sunday afternoon is his only opportunity to rest, so he goes outside to his hammock and takes a peaceful nap. He has an old manual lawn mower in the garage. He would mow the lawn if he had time.
exhausted (adj.) – extremely tired
likely (adj.) – probably will happen, probably is true
referee (v.) – someone who makes sure that the rules of a sport such as football, basketball, or boxing, are followed
Real vs. Unreal Conditional
| REAL | |
|---|---|
The present tense in a conditional clause expresses that the activity may occur–is likely to occur. (Conditions are favorable for the action to happen). |
|
| PRESENT | LIKELY CONDITION |
Jack mows the grass |
if he has time. |
| FUTURE | LIKELY CONDITION |
Jack will mow the grass |
if he has time. |
| PAST | LIKELY CONDITION |
Jack mowed the grass |
if he had time. |
| UNREAL | |
|---|---|
The past or past perfect in a conditional clause expresses that the activity is unlikely to occur. (Conditions are unfavorable for the action to happen.) Also called a "remote conditional". |
|
| PRESENT | UNLIKELY CONDITION |
Ted would mow the grass |
if he had time. |
| FUTURE | UNLIKELY CONDITION |
Ted would mow the grass |
if he had time. |
| PAST | UNLIKELY CONDITION |
Ted would have mowed the grass |
if he had had time. |
mow (v.) –cut with a lawn mower (equipment)
likely (adj.) – probable, possible to happen
Unreal conditional is also call remote conditional.
Real & Unreal Conditionals
Modals in the Result Clause
Will / Would, May / Might, Can / Could
| REAL | |
|---|---|
Will, may, might, and could are used to by a speaker to express opinion on the likelihood of an action happening in the present or future. |
|
| PRES / FUTURE – RESULT CLAUSE | LIKELY CONDITION |
Jack mows the grass |
if he has time. |
| PAST – RESULT CLAUSE | LIKELY CONDITION |
Jack mowed the grass |
if he had time. |
| UNREAL | |
|---|---|
Will have, may have, might have, and could have + participle are used to by a speaker to express opinion on an action that will not or did not happen. |
|
| PRES / FUTURE – RESULT CLAUSE | UNLIKELY CONDITION |
Ted would mow the grass |
if he had time. |
| PAST – RESULT CLAUSE | UNLIKELY CONDITION |
Ted would have mowed the grass |
if he had had time. |
likelihood – probability, favorability
will – sure, certain
may, might, could – probable
Real & Unreal Conditionals
Modals in the Condition Clause
| REAL | |
|---|---|
Can, could, may, might are used in the condition clause when they add information about the speaker's opinion: can and could – ability, may and might– permission. |
|
| PRES / FUTURE – RESULT CLAUSE | LIKELY CONDITION |
Jack takes the day off. |
if he has vacation time. |
|
*if he will have vacation time. |
|
if he can get some time off. |
|
if he may do so. |
| PAST – RESULT CLAUSE | LIKELY CONDITION |
Jack took the day off. |
if he had vacation time. |
|
*if he would have vacation time. |
|
if he could get some time off. |
|
if he might do so. |
| UNREAL | |
|---|---|
Could, could have, might, and might have are used in the condition clause when they add information about the speaker's opinion: could and could have – ability, might and might have – permission. |
|
| PRES / FUTURE – RESULT CLAUSE | UNLIKELY CONDITION |
Jack would mow the grass |
if he had time. |
|
*if he would have time. |
|
if he could have time. |
|
if he might have time. |
| PAST – RESULT CLAUSE | UNLIKELY CONDITION |
Jack would have mowed the grass |
if he had had time. |
|
*if he would have had time. |
|
if he could have had more time. |
|
if he might have had time. |
likelihood – probability, favorability
will – sure, certain
may, might, could – probable
*not used
Common Mistakes
Errors and Solutions
| ERROR | SOLUTION |
|---|---|
I would do my homework if I would have more time. |
I would do my homework if I had more time. (Although would have is a past form of would, it is uncommonly used in the condition clause.) |
I would have finished the test if I would have had a little more time. |
I would have finished the test if I had had more time. I would have finished the test if they might have given us more time. I would have finished the test if I could have found another pencil.
|
Grammar Notes
Traditional Grammar and Linguistic Description
Advanced
| TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR | LINGUISTIC DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
In traditional grammar, a sentence with a conditional clause with a true situation is a real conditional, and an untrue situation is an unreal condition, a hypothetical condition or an imaginary present, past or future. An if clause refers to a condition — something which must happen so that something else can happen. (Swan 257) If-clauses "also called adverb clauses present possible conditions. The main clause expresses result." (UUEG 17-6, 20-2) |
Conditional construction: if-clause—protasis; matrix (main) clause— apodosis (CaGEL 8 §14) if — preposition that takes a content clause as its subordinate complement. (PP + finite clause) open: If you come on Sunday, we'll have dinner together. If I was / were… preterit verb form. Irrealis (CaGEL 3 §1.7) |
| REED-KELLOGG DIAGRAM | TREE DIAGRAM |
|
|
Categories: NP –noun phrase; N – noun; VP – verb phrase; V – verb; Det – determiner; PP – prepositional phrase; P – preposition; AdvP – adverb phrase; Adv – adverb; AdjP– adjective phrase; Adj – adjective; Subord – Subordinator; Coord – Coordinator; Interj – Interjection
Functions: Subject: Subject, Predicate: Predicator (V) Complement: elements required by the verb: object, indirect object, predicative complement Adjuncts: (optional modifiers) Adj, Adv
Resources
Practice 1
Real or Unreal
Read the paragraph above about Jack and Ted.
Is the situation likely to happen (real) or unlikely to happen. likely — probably will happen, probably is true. unlikely — probably won't happen, probably isn't true.
- Select the response from the list that best completes the sentence.
- Either click the "check all" button at the bottom of the practice to reveal the answers after you finish.
Or click the individual "check" buttons #1-10 to compare responses as you go.
Practice 2
Real or Imagined
Read
Aiden bikes to school. It takes him fifteen minutes to get there. He doesn't bike when it rains. He walks instead. Then it takes him thirty minutes. He doesn't like to walk because his books are heavy, but sometimes he can't help it.
Aiden's friend drives. Aiden can call him and ask his friend for a ride. However, he must call him the night before. Sometimes, it rains unexpectedly in the morning. So Aiden walks in the rain. Fortunately, Aiden has a good umbrella and Aiden likes to walk.
can't help – cannot avoid
forecast – predict something, especially weather
get to school – travel to school
in time – within the time, not from the beginning, but still able to do the activity
on time – at the beginning set time of an activity
Read the conditional sentence and answer the question.
likely — probably will happen, probably is true. unlikely — probably won't happen, probably isn't true.
- Select the response from the list that best completes the sentence.
- Either click the "check all" button at the bottom of the practice to reveal the answers after you finish.
Or click the individual "check" buttons #11-16 to compare responses as you go.