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Hi, I’m Stephanie.
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Welcome to Oxford Online English!
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In this lesson, you can learn about conditional
sentences.
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Conditional sentences are sentences with the
word ‘if’.
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You can use conditional sentences to talk
about many different situations.
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There are also sentences which don’t use
the word ‘if’, but which follow similar
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rules.
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By the way, do you want English subtitles
while watching this video?
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Click the ‘CC’ button in the bottom right
now to turn on English subtitles if you need
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them.
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This is a ‘5 levels’ lesson.
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That means you’ll see five sections.
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Each section will give you a challenge.
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Each section is more difficult than the previous
one.
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If you’re a more advanced English speaker,
you should probably skip to level two.
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Ready?
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Let’s go!
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Look at the five sentences.
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Your job is to put the verb in brackets into
the correct form.
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Pause the video and do it now.
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Ready?
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Here are the answers.
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So, what do you need to know here?
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These sentences are called first conditionals.
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They talk about things which could happen
in the future.
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All conditional sentences have two parts.
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They have an if-clause…
…and a *result* clause.
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You need to know three basic things to make
first conditional sentences.
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One: after ‘if’, use a present tense.
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Here, you use the present simple.
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Other present tenses are sometimes possible,
but you can almost always use the present
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simple.
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Even though you’re talking about the future,
you generally can’t use a future form after
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‘if’; you use a present verb tense to
talk about the future.
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Two: in the result clause – meaning the
other part of the sentence – use a future
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form.
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You can use different future forms, like ‘will’,
‘going to’, or the present continuous.
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Three: you can change the order of the clauses;
you can put the if-clause at the start of
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the sentence, or you can start with the result
clause, and the if-clause goes afterwards.
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With these three points, you can make first
conditional sentences to talk about things
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which might happen in the future.
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However, there are many other kinds of conditional
sentence.
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Let’s move on to level two!
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Look at your sentences for level two.
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Here, you have a different task.
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Some of these sentences are correct, but some
are not.
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Your job is to find the mistakes and correct
them.
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Pause the video and think about it.
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Take as much time as you need!
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Could you do it?
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Let’s look together.
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Sentences one and two are correct.
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These are called zero conditionals.
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A zero conditional uses the present simple
in both parts of the sentence.
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Use zero conditionals to talk about things
which are generally true.
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Sentence three is incorrect, but four is correct.
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Can you explain why?
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‘Unless’ means ‘if not’.
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You can’t use a negative verb after ‘unless’,
because you can’t have two negatives together
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in English.
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So, sentence three should be ‘Unless you
*have* further questions, let’s move on
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to the next point.’
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Finally, sentence five is also incorrect.
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There are many words which behave similarly
to ‘if’.
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‘Until’ is one such word; others include
‘as soon as’, ‘when’, ‘in case’
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and ‘unless’.
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Like with ‘if’, you can’t generally
use a future form after these words.
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Instead, you use a present verb – usually
the present simple – to refer to the future.
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So, sentence five should be ‘I can’t do
any work until my computer *is* fixed.’
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Did you get everything right?
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If so, great!
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If not, don’t worry.
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Remember that you can always review a section
if you need to.
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Here are your sentences.
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This time, you have to put both verbs into
the correct form.
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Here’s a tip: not all the sentences follow
the same pattern.
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Think carefully!
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For one verb, there are two possible answers.
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Pause the video and make your answers now.
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Done?
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Take a look.
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How did you do?
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Did you get them all right?
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If not, what do you need to study?
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These sentences are all second and third conditionals.
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Second and third conditionals are *unreal*
conditionals.
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That means you use them to talk about imaginary
situations – situations that didn’t really
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happen, or won’t happen.
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For example, look at sentence two: ‘If I
were president, I’d send everyone a cake
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on their birthday.’
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But, I’m not president, and I’m not going
to be.
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It’s an unreal, imaginary situation.
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So, no cake for you!
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You use second conditionals to talk about
unreal situations in the present or future.
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You use third conditionals to talk about unreal
situations in the past.
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Look at the five sentences again.
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Which ones are second conditionals, and which
are third conditionals?
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One, two and four are second conditionals;
they refer to the present or the future.
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Three and five refer to the past, so they’re
third conditionals.
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If you find this difficult, start by reviewing
second conditional sentences.
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Also, study the difference between real and
unreal conditionals.
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Many languages don’t make a difference between
real and unreal situations like English does.
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If your language doesn’t do this, then you’ll
need to pay extra attention to these unreal
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sentences when you’re speaking English.
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When you feel that you understand second conditionals
well, then learn and practise third conditionals.
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So, is that it?
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Have we seen all the possible types of conditional
sentences?
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Not quite yet.
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In level four, let’s do something a little
different.
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Look at the sentences to begin.
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You have two jobs here.
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One: are both verb forms possible, or not?
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If not, which one is right?
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Two: if both are possible, is there any difference
in meaning?
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If so, what?
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Pause the video now.
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You know what to do!
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OK, before we look at the answers, here’s
a clue: there’s only one sentence where
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both verb forms are possible.
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If that’s news to you, then feel free to
pause again and take more time to think about
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it.
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Ready now?
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Let’s check!
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Like in level three, all these sentences are
*unreal* conditionals.
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They’re talking about things which didn’t
happen or won’t happen in reality.
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But, these are mixed conditionals.
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That means the one part of the sentence is
about the present or future, and the other
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part is about the past.
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For example, in sentence two, the first clause
– which is the result clause – is about
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the present, and the if-clause is about the
past.
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In sentence three, the result clause is about
the future, and the if-clause is about the
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past.
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In sentence one, both forms are possible.
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Sentence one can also be a third conditional,
referring to the past.
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However, it can also be a mixed conditional,
with the if-clause referring to the present,
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and the result clause referring to the past.
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Here’s the question you probably want an
answer to: what’s the difference between
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using the two forms in sentence one?
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Can you explain it?
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If you use ‘wasn’t’, and say ‘if she
wasn’t so shy’, then you’re referring
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to the present.
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This suggests that she’s generally shy – this
is part of her personality.
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If you say ‘if she hadn’t been so shy’,
then you’re referring to the past.
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This suggests that she was shy during her
stay here, but maybe she’s not shy all the
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time.
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This is a small difference, but it is a difference
nonetheless.
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Another question: how do you know there’s
only one possibility for sentences two to
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five?
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It’s because all these sentences contain
a time marker.
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For example, sentences two and four include
the word ‘now’.
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So, they must be about the present.
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Sentences three and five contain time markers
which clearly refer to the past.
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So, what should you do if you found this difficult?
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First, review second and third conditionals,
and how to form them.
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If you have difficulties with the formation
of second or third conditional sentences,
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then you’ll struggle with mixed conditionals,
too.
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Then, try to make some mixed conditional sentences
about your life.
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Think of things you did – or didn’t do
– in the past, which could have made a difference
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to your life now.
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Or, think about your personality traits, and
how your past might have been different if
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you had a different personality.
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If you want extra practise, add your examples
in the comments!
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OK, there’s one more section.
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Are you ready for the toughest challenge?
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Look at your level five sentences.
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Your job is to complete each sentence with
*one* word.
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There’s only one answer that makes sense,
except for number five, where there are at
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least two possible answers.
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Pause the video and find your answers.
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Could you do it?
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These sentences test some extremely specific
grammar knowledge.
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Let’s see the answers.
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So, can you explain what’s happening here?
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Some of these sentence might look strange
or wrong, but they’re all correct.
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By the way, in sentence five, ‘would’
is – we think – the most likely answer,
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but ‘will’ and ‘could’ are also possible.
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In sentence one, using the present perfect,
instead of the present simple, means that
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this person has already taken their English
exam, but doesn’t know the results yet.
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Usually in first conditional sentences, you
might be able to use other present tenses,
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but you can always use the present simple.
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However, there’s one case where you *must*
use the present perfect.
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If you’re talking about the future consequences
of something which happened in the past, you
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need the present perfect after ‘if’.
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In this case, the event – the exam – is
in the past, but the consequences – meaning
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the results – are in the future.
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Sentence two is a more formal or literary
style.
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The more common pattern would be ‘if you
had told us sooner…’
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You can use this formal style if the first
verb after ‘if’ is ‘had’, ‘should’
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or ‘were’.
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To form the sentence, you do two things.
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One: you omit ‘if’.
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Two: you move the auxiliary verb – ‘had’,
‘should’ or ‘were’ – before the
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subject.
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It’s never necessary to use this pattern;
you can always use a regular conditional,
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with ‘if’, instead.
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What about sentence three?
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In second conditional sentences, if the verb
after ‘if’ describes an action, you can
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add ‘were to’ before the verb.
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This emphasises that the situation is very
distant or unlikely.
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When you use this, you’re saying ‘I really
don’t think this will happen.’
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In this case, the interviewer is probably
not very positive about this candidate!
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Again, you never need to use this structure.
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You could make a regular second conditional:
‘if we decided to hire you…’
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In sentence four, what do you think is happening?
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You might be thinking: you can’t use ‘will’
after ‘if’ in a conditional sentence.
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That’s generally true, but this sentence
isn’t really a conditional.
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‘If’ here does not express a condition;
it is similar in meaning to ‘in case’.
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You can understand the sentence as ‘You
can take it, because it might help you.’
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So, the regular rules about first conditionals
don’t apply here, and you can – and should
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– use ‘will’ after ‘if’.
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Sentence five might also look weird to some
of you.
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Can you explain it?
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Why is there only one part?
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Don’t conditionals need to have two parts?
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Like with number four, this isn’t a conditional.
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It’s a formal way of making a request.
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The meaning is equivalent to ‘Would you
please follow me?’
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Because it isn’t a conditional, it doesn’t
need a result clause – you can just use
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an if-clause by itself.
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Remember that this is a formal style, and
you’re not likely to hear it or use it often.
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Now, we have one final question for you: what
topic from this lesson would you like to learn
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more about?
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Please let us know in the comments!
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Thanks for watching!
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See you next time!19462
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