So far you have seen the most common conditionals. Variations on these three types of conditionals are also possible.
Type 1: first conditional – probable
If + present simple + future simple
- if he hurries up he’ll catch the train.
Variations
With the first conditional, we can user “may / might” instead of “will” to express possibility, “can” to express permission or ability, “must / should” or an imperative to express advice or an order.
if + present simple + may / might
- if the fog gets thicker, the plane may / might diverted (It’s possible the plane will be diverted).
if + present simple + can
- If your work is finished, you can leave (You have permission to leave).
if + present simple + must / should / imperative
- If you want to lose weight, you must / should eat less bread (Our advice is to eat less bread).
- If Peter comes, call me (I’m ordering / telling you to call me).
if + present simple + present simple
- If you freeze water, it turns into ice (The automatic result — water always turns into ice when frozen).
Type 2: second conditional – unlikely
if + past simple + simple conditional (would + infinitive)
- If i were rich, i would live in a big house in the country.
Variations
With the second conditional we can user ‘could / might’ instead of the conditional tense to express ability or a possible result.
if + past simple + ‘could / might’
- If I had her address, i could write to her (I don’t have her address and so I can’t write to her. It would be possible if i had her address).
Type 3: third conditional — impossible
if + past perfect + would have + past participle
- If we’d sold more goods, we would have made more money (We didn’t sell more goods and we didn’t make more money).
Variations
With the third conditional we can use ‘could have / might have’ instead of the compound conditional to express ability or possibility.
if + past perfect + ‘could have / might have’ + past participle
- If the ambulance had arrived earlier, they could have saved his life (The ambulance didn’t arrive earlier, and they didn’g save his life. It would have been possible to save his life if the ambulance had got there earlier).
- If the ambulance had arrived earlier, they might have saved his life (Maybe they would have saved his life).
Tags: conditional
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