Learn how to structure sentences using the English conditional words "if" and "would"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chihiro: Hi, everybody! Chihiro here. |
| Ryan: Ryan here. No Joking in English at Immigration! |
| Ryan: In this lesson, you will learn about immigration. |
| Chihiro: This conversation takes place at the immigration area of the airport. |
| Ryan: This conversation is between Drew and an immigration officer. |
| Chihiro: The officer will be speaking formally and Drew will be speaking casually. Okay, let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Drew: Oh jeez, here we go again. Another happy-looking immigration officer interrogation! |
| Officer: Passport, please. |
| Drew: Hi, here's my passport. |
| Officer: Where are you flying from today sir? |
| Drew: I flew in from Singapore. |
| Officer: What's the purpose of your stay? |
| Drew: Well, I'm here to work. |
| Officer: Who's your employer? |
| Drew: Innovative International. |
| Officer: And how long do you plan to stay here? |
| Drew: Six months; that's half a year. |
| Officer: I know that. Where are you staying? |
| Drew: I'm going to camp out in a tent under a bridge. Don't worry, I'll have my lighter and my iPhone. I'll be fine. |
| Officer: Sir, if I were you, I would drop the humor. Where are you staying (forcefully)? |
| Drew: My employer has rented out an apartment for me in the city. Small but comfortable. |
| Officer: Fine. Okay, here you are. |
| Drew: Thanks! (walking away) That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Drew: Oh jeez, here we go again. Another happy-looking immigration officer interrogation! |
| Officer: Passport, please. |
| Drew: Hi, here's my passport. |
| Officer: Where are you flying from today sir? |
| Drew: I flew in from Singapore. |
| Officer: What's the purpose of your stay? |
| Drew: Well, I'm here to work. |
| Officer: Who's your employer? |
| Drew: Innovative International. |
| Officer: And how long do you plan to stay here? |
| Drew: Six months; that's half a year. |
| Officer: I know that. Where are you staying? |
| Drew: I'm going to camp out in a tent under a bridge. Don't worry, I'll have my lighter and my iPhone. I'll be fine. |
| Officer: Sir, if I were you, I would drop the humor. Where are you staying (forcefully)? |
| Drew: My employer has rented out an apartment for me in the city. Small but comfortable. |
| Officer: Fine. Okay, here you are. |
| Drew: Thanks! (walking away) That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Chihiro: Drew doesn't have the best sense of humor does he now? |
| Ryan: Neither does the immigration officer! |
| Chihiro: Haha, very true. They're the last people I'd like to joke around with actually! Because a lot of the time immigration at airports in the U.S. is strict with the people who go through. |
| Ryan: Yeah, definitely. They may ask many questions about your trip and it's essential that you have a visa unless you are a citizen from a country of the visa waiver program. |
| Chihiro: Right, make sure you have all of those necessary documents or else it's going to be either very tough to get by, or just impossible. |
| Ryan: And when going through immigration just be polite and answer any questions they have and the process will be smooth. |
| Chihiro: Right, with everything said, there are friendly people too, who are very welcoming. |
| Ryan: Okay, with that in mind, let's go on to the vocabulary in this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Ryan: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Chihiro: interrogation [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: act of asking detailed questions usually in a forceful way |
| Chihiro: interrogation [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: interrogation [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: to fly [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: to travel by plane |
| Chihiro: to fly [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: to fly [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: purpose [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: reason |
| Chihiro: purpose [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: purpose [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: employer [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: person or company that has people working for money |
| Chihiro: employer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: employer [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: plan [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: something someone intends to do |
| Chihiro: plan [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: plan [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: to plan [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: to arrange something before it happens |
| Chihiro: to plan [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: to plan [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: to camp [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: to sleep in a tent outdoors |
| Chihiro: to camp [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: to camp [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: tent [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: cloth shelter that is portable and used outdoors |
| Chihiro: tent [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: tent [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: lighter [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: small device that produces a flame |
| Chihiro: lighter [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: lighter [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: humor [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: act of being funny or amused by things that are funny |
| Chihiro: humor [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: humor [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Ryan: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. You hear in the dialogue the immigration officer saying, |
| Chihiro: "What's the purpose of your stay?" |
| Ryan: This question asks the reason for your trip. Be prepared for this question since it's a common question immigration officers ask. |
| Chihiro: Right, many people will answer either "business" or "sightseeing." They also will ask you where you're staying and how long you're staying for. If you don't know the address to the place, at least know the city or the name of the hotel. Okay, now the second phrase we'll look at is, |
| Ryan: "Drop the humor." |
| Chihiro: In other words, this means "stop joking around." |
| Ryan: The immigration officer says this because she's not happy with Drew joking around. |
| Chihiro: Right, she wasn’t. Now some people may find immigration officers to be strict and dry; therefore, joking around with many of them is probably not the best idea. |
| Ryan: No, it's not! Okay, let's take a look at the grammar point for this lesson. |
Lesson focus |
| Chihiro: The Focus of This Lesson Is the second conditional. We can use the second conditional when we talk about things that are not probable or there's only a slim chance of being true. We use "if" with the past tense and we use "would" in the second part of the sentence. |
| Ryan: And know that even though this type of sentence contains the past tense, it is not talking about past events. Chihiro, can you give us an example from the dialogue to understand this better? |
| Chihiro: How about, "sir, if I were you I would drop the humor." |
| Ryan: You can see in this sample sentence from the dialogue that we use the past tense form with the word "if" as in. |
| Chihiro: If I were you. |
| Ryan: And we use "would" in the second part. |
| Chihiro: I would drop the humor. |
| Ryan: If I were you I would drop the humor. |
| Chihiro: See how there's no way that the immigration officer can be Drew, therefore she uses this construction, because she's talking about a situation that is imaginary. |
| Ryan: Yeah, she didn't sound too happy either when saying it. |
| Chihiro: No, not at all! But anyways, listeners, that's not the point. This is the point. Note that the past tense of the verb "to be" for the subject "I" is, usually, "I was," but in a conditional sentence construction we can use "were" in other words, "I were". And that goes for all the other subjects. |
| Ryan: Some may say there's a difference in meaning, and some may say that it's just a difference in style. You'll find different explanations in different textbooks, and you may never reach an answer. But just know that either one is acceptable. |
| Chihiro: So you may hear “I was” in many songs. |
| Ryan: In the meantime here are some more examples. |
| Chihiro: "If I were a bird, I would fly." |
| Ryan: It sounds like Chihiro is wishfully thinking that she was a bird so that she could fly away. But since we both know that it's impossible for her to be a bird, she uses the second conditional to express her unrealistic thoughts, while she continues working for us. |
| Chihiro: That is correct, Ryan, and well explained. So now you give us an example. |
| Ryan: "If the elephant balanced on the ball, I would be very entertained." |
| Chihiro: So Ryan is having these high expectations of a poor elephant balancing on a ball, when it probably doesn't really want to. Otherwise he wouldn't be entertained. Jeez. |
| Ryan: I won't settle for cheap thrills. |
| Chihiro: Sure. Okay. And here's one last one |
| Ryan: "I would be super rich if I had a million dollars." |
| Chihiro: And "I would be even richer than Ryan, if I had a billion dollars." Here we are both expressing how far we are from becoming rich people by using the second conditional. |
| Ryan: We hope you understand the second conditional better now. |
| Chihiro: Yes, we hope we clarified any doubts you may have had with the second conditional. |
| Ryan: Go ahead and use it next time you have something to say that's not likely or impossible. |
Outro |
| Ryan: Well, that just about does it for today. Bye for now! |
| Chihiro: See you all later! |
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