Lets leaRn Conditional Sentence
a) Compare these examples:
Ben : i think i left my lighter in your house, have you seen it?
Sherly:no, but i’ll have a look. If i find it, i’ll give it to you .
in this example, there is real possibility that Sherly will find the lighter. so she says: I’ll find..
SherLy: if i found some money in the street, i would keep it
this is different type of situation. Sherly is not thinking a real possibility she is imaginningthe situation , so she says: If i found…i would..(not if i find..i’ll)
when u imagine a future happening like this, u use a pat tense( did/was/found) after if. But the meaning is not past:
- what would you o if you won a million pounds?
- if we didn’t go to his party next week, he would be very angry
b) we do not normally use would in the if part of the sentence:
- i’d be very frigthened if someone pointed a gun at me (not is someone would point’)
- if we didn’t go to their party next week, they would be angry ( not if we wouldn’t go)
sometimes it is possible to say if….would, especially when you ask me to do something in formal way:
- i would be very grateful if you would send me your brochure and price list as soon as possible ( from a formal letter)
- ’shall i close the door’? yes please if you would
c) in the other part of the sentence ( not the if part) we use would/wouldn’t. would is usually shorthened to ‘d, especially in spoken English:
-if you stopped smoking, you’d proably feel healthier (perhaps they would be)
- if it stopped raining, we could go out ( we would be able to go out)
d) do not use when in sentences like the ones in this unit
- Tom would be angry if i didn’t visit him ( not ‘when i didn’t visit’)
- What would you do if you were bitten by a snake? (not ‘when you were’)
that’s all for learning conditional sentence…give some correction or ask some questions if you need it…
thanks for your kind attention..keep trying to be better by learning together..GOD BLESS