Conditional
sentences
Conditional tenses are used to
speculate about what could happen, what might have happened, and what we wish
would happen. In English, most sentences using the conditional contain the word
if. Many conditional forms in English are used in sentences that include verbs
in one of the past tenses. This usage is referred to as "the unreal
past" because we use a past tense but we are not actually referring to
something that happened in the past. There are five main ways of constructing
conditional sentences in English. In all cases, these sentences are made up of
an if clause and a main clause. In many negative conditional sentences, there
is an equivalent sentence construction using "unless" instead of
"if".
There are three types of
conditional sentences.
type
|
condition
|
I
|
condition possible to fulfill
|
II
|
condition in theory possible to fulfill
|
III
|
condition not possible to fulfill (too
late)
|
1. Form
type
|
if-clause
|
main clause
|
I
|
Simple Present
|
will-future or (Modal +
infinitive)
|
II
|
Simple Past
|
would + infinitive *
|
III
|
Past Perfect
|
would + have + past participle *
|
2. Examples (if-clause at
the beginning)
type
|
if clause
|
main clause
|
I
|
If I study,
|
I will pass the exam.
|
II
|
If I studied,
|
I would pass the exam.
|
III
|
If I had studied,
|
I would have passed the
exam.
|
3. Examples (if-clause at
the end)
type
|
main clause
|
if-clause
|
I
|
I will pass the exam
|
if I study.
|
II
|
I would pass the exam
|
if I studied.
|
III
|
I would have passed the
exam
|
if I had studied.
|
4. Examples (affirmative
and negative sentences)
type
|
|
Examples
|
|
|
|
long forms
|
short/contracted forms
|
I
|
+
|
If I study, I will pass the
exam.
|
If I study, I'll pass the
exam.
|
-
|
If I study, I will not
fail the exam.
If I do not study, I will fail the exam. |
If I study, I won't
fail the exam.
If I don't study, I'll fail the exam. |
|
II
|
+
|
If I studied, I would
pass the exam.
|
If I studied, I'd pass the
exam.
|
-
|
If I studied, I would
not fail the exam.
If I did not study, I would fail the exam. |
If I studied, I wouldn't
fail the exam.
If I didn't study, I'd fail the exam. |
|
III
|
+
|
If I had studied, I would
have passed the exam.
|
If I'd studied, I'd have passed the
exam.
|
-
|
If I had studied, I would
not have failed the exam.
If I had not studied, I would have failed the exam. |
If I'd studied, I wouldn't
have failed the exam.
If I hadn't studied, I'd have failed the exam. |
* We can substitute could or might for would (should, may or must are
sometimes possible, too).
·
I would pass
the exam.
·
I could pass
the exam.
·
I might pass
the exam.
·
I may pass
the exam.
·
I should pass
the exam.
·
I must pass
the exam
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