Conditionals and other Hypotheticals

The English Tense system may be organised differently to your own language. In English, for example, “time” is only one concept that the tenses describe. It may be helpful to think of the English tenses as describing different forms of “distance”. Look at the examples below:

(1) Distance in Time


PRESENT TENSES
I am going to the shop.
^
PAST
TENSES
I went to the shop yesterday.
^
PAST PERFECT TENSES
(EVENTS THAT HAPPENED BEFORE ANOTHER PAST EVENT)
I had been to the shop before he came home.

(2) Social Distance

Direct
Personal
Informal
Close Relationship

Use PRESENT TENSES e.g. You can't smoke in here!

Indirect
Formal
Polite
Distant Relationship

Use PAST TENSES, e.g. I’d rather you didn’t smoke in here.



(3) Hypothetical Distance

REAL/POSSIBLE
FACT
ALWAYS TRUE
PRESENT TENSES

When I come home I eat something.


REAL POSSIBILITY IN THE PRESENT /FUTURE
use PRESENT TENSES

If I have time, I’ll eat something later.

UNREAL /UNLIKELY
PRESENT
use PAST TENSES

If I had time, I would eat something but I’m very busy today.

I wish I had a car

UNREAL PAST (THEREFORE COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE)
use PAST PERFECT

If I had had time, I would have eaten something yesterday.

I wish I had gone to the party last night.


For this reason it is always important to consider the context of a sentence first – the use of the simple past tense does not always mean we are talking about a time in the past!

CONDITIONALS – AN OVERVIEW:
Typically (but not always) hypotheticals are expressed using conditional structures. Look at the 6 main types below.

“0”
Always true (e.g. rules, laws, beliefs)
Present + Present

“1st”
Real Situations in the present or future (e.g. the outcome is really possible)
Present + will + bare infinitive

“2nd”
Unreal/Hypothetical Situations in the present or future (imaginary situations, unlikely events)
Past + would + bare infinitive


“3rd”
Unreal/Hypothetical Situations in the past
(imagining past events in a different way)
Past perfect + would + perfect infinitive (have + past participle)

Mixed 2/3
Hypothetical present affects a hypothetical past.
Past + would + perfect infinitive

Mixed 3/2
Hypothetical past affects a hypothetical present
Past perfect + would + bare infinitive.


(A) Find an example for each type from the sentences below.
1. If I went out tonight , I would see John but I’m going to stay in.
2. If I had gone out last night, I would have seen John.
3. If I go out, I see John, he’s always in the pub.
4. If I go out tonight, I will see John, he said he was going into the West End.
5. If I couldn’t speak English well, I wouldn’t have gone on the Erasmus programme.
6. If we had listened to the instructions properly, we would know what to do.

(B) Other modals apart from will and would can also be used. Now add the sentences below to the groups above.
1. If you hadn’t reminded me, I might have forgotten his birthday.
2. If I had the money, I could lend it to you.
3. If you get sick, you should see a doctor.
4. If you make an appointment, you can see the doctor tomorrow.


Choosing the Best Conditional:
The conditional you use not only depends on the situation and time but also how you see it. For example 3 different people might use 0, 1st or 2nd conditionals to describe the same event depending on views and beliefs from their own experience.

Look at the 3 sentences below. How is each situation different? (n.b. they are all present situations)

(a)If the train is late, what do you do?
(b)If the train is late, what will you do?
(c)If the train was late, what would you do?

Which speaker:
Lives in Germany where the trains are never late?
Lives in Italy where the trains are sometimes late?
Lives in England where the trains are always late?


Problems With Past Hypotheticals:

1
Many students find past hypothetical structures such as the 3rd conditional very difficult. There are a number of common mistakes:

· Using the past tense instead of the past perfect.
If I know English better, I would work in the U.S.A.
If I knew English better, I would work in the U.S.A.


· The over use of would
If I would have known that it was cancelled, I wouldn’t have gone.
If I had known that it was cancelled, I wouldn’t have gone.

· Forgetting the auxiliary verbs when forming the perfect infinitive.
If I had won the lottery, I would bought a car.
If I had won the lottery, I would have bought a car.