Conditional Tenses
Diagnostic
Conditional Diagnostic Quiz: a tool to help you identify specific points that need review |
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Real or True Conditions
Present & Future Real Situations: conditional facts & predictions (Int.-Adv. ESL, Native Speakers)
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If there are no bees, flowers will not be pollinated. (future - cause effect prediction) If I am going to help, you need to give me your full attention. (intent) If you will step this way please. (request)
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Present & Past Real Situations: conditional habits & customs (Int.-Adv. ESL, Native Speakers)
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If I go shopping, I take a cloth bag. |
Unreal or Hypothetical Conditions
Present Unreal Situations: strategizing with hypothetical statements (Int.-Adv. ESL, Native Speakers)
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If I moved my pawn forward, then I could take his bishop. |
Past Unreal Situations 1: analyzing with hypothetical statements (Int.-Adv. ESL, Native Speakers)
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If the second engine hadn't
caught fire, the
plane could have made an emergency landing. |
Conditions - Analysis, Options & Advice
Past Unreal Situations 2: analyzing an accident (Int.-Adv. ESL, Native Speakers)
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If the night watchmen had
had binoculars, they would have been able to spot the iceberg earlier. |
Should / Could have: late advice (Int.-Adv. ESL, Native Speakers)
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Passengers could have taken other smaller transatlantic ships.
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Mixed Tenses: hypothetical situations in mixed time frames (Int.-Adv. ESL, Native Speakers)
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If you had fed the dog, she wouldn't be hungry now. (regret) If I had known (that) your dog was ill, I would have offered to help it. (noun clause – earlier truth – The dog was ill at that time.) |
Implied Conditions: a real or unreal situation? (Int.-Adv. ESL, Native Speakers)
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Jack will cut the grass if he has time. (present)
Jack would cut the grass if he had time. (present) |
Conditional Wishes
Wishes: expressing wishes and regrets (Int.-Adv. ESL, Native Speakers)
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We wish to go with you. (direct request / demand) |
Wish Agreement: tense agreement in conditional statements (Int.-Adv. ESL, Native Speakers)
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My father wished he had gone to college. (I regret he didn't.) |
Conditional Connectors
If / Unless: expressing a specific condition for an outcome (Int.-Adv. ESL, Native Speakers)
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If you cook your turkey like this, you will have a tender turkey. |
Omitting if: giving advice in hypothetical situations (Int.-Adv. ESL, Native Speakers)
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If I were/was you, I wouldn't get involved. |
If / In Case: stating a conditioned vs. a precautionary action (Int.-Adv. ESL, Native Speakers)
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Keep some extra batteries and bottled water In case there is an earthquake. |
Related Pages
Would: stating preference, request, habit or excuse (Beg.–Adv. ESL)
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Would you like some coffee? On Sundays, we would visit our relatives I would
have stopped smoking, but it was too difficult.
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Will / Would: expressing intent or refusal (Beg.–Int. ESL)
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I will win this singing contest! The judges won't vote for me. They refuse. |
















