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The Second Conditional

The document discusses the second conditional, which is used to talk about unlikely or impossible future events and present situations. It uses the structure "if + past tense, would + infinitive". Examples are given to illustrate talking about improbable future dreams or events ("If I won the lottery, I would buy a big house") and discussing present impossibilities ("If I had his number, I would call him"). The second conditional differs from the first conditional in that it refers to less probable or realistic scenarios rather than likely future actions.

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50 views1 page

The Second Conditional

The document discusses the second conditional, which is used to talk about unlikely or impossible future events and present situations. It uses the structure "if + past tense, would + infinitive". Examples are given to illustrate talking about improbable future dreams or events ("If I won the lottery, I would buy a big house") and discussing present impossibilities ("If I had his number, I would call him"). The second conditional differs from the first conditional in that it refers to less probable or realistic scenarios rather than likely future actions.

Uploaded by

Andie Otero
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/second-conditional.

html

The Second Conditional


The second conditional uses the past simple after if, then 'would' and the
infinitive:

 if + past simple, ...would + infinitive

(We can use 'were' instead of 'was' with 'I' and 'he/she/it'. This is mostly done in
formal writing).

It has two uses.

First, we can use it to talk about things in the future that are probably not going
to be true. Maybe I'm imagining some dream for example.

 If I won the lottery, I would buy a big house.(I probably won't win the
lottery)
 If I met the Queen of England, I would say hello.
 She would travel all over the world if she were rich.
 She would pass the exam if she ever studied.(She never studies, so this
won't happen)

Second, we can use it to talk about something in the present which is


impossible, because it's not true. Is that clear? Have a look at the examples:

 If I had his number, I would call him. (I don't have his number now, so


it's impossible for me to call him).
 If I were you, I wouldn't go out with that man.

How is this different from the first conditional?


This kind of conditional sentence is different from the first conditional because
this is a lot more unlikely.

For example (second conditional): If I had enough money I would buy a house
with twenty bedrooms and a swimming pool (I'm probably not going to have
this much money, it's just a dream, not very real)

But (first conditional): If I have enough money, I'll buy some new shoes (It's
much more likely that I'll have enough money to buy some shoes)

https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/second-conditional-exercise-1.html

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