Practice making conditional statements in English
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| Do you know how to make conditional statements in English? |
| Welcome to Three Step English Practice by EnglishClass101.com. In this lesson, you will practice how to make conditional statements in English. |
| Let’s look at the main dialogue. |
| Two people are having a conversation. |
| Yeah, if I had a bowling alley, I’d use the metric system. |
| Well, I’ll just have to remember I’m a size 7 from now on. |
| In this conversation, this person |
| Says "If I had a bowling alley, I'd use the metric system." |
| He uses this sentence to say what he would do in an ideal, but unlikely, situation. |
| The main focus starts with "if," which establishes that this situation is an imagined "what if" situation. |
| Then he says "I had a bowling alley." He uses a verb in the past simple tense to explain the ideal situation. |
| After that, he says "I'd," a contraction of "I would." This means what follows is what he, the speaker, WOULD do IF the situation he just described came true. |
| Finally, he says "use the metric system." This is a phrase that uses a bare infinitive verb to show what he would do if the conditions were met. A bare infinitive is a verb in its infinitive form, like "to go," but without the word "to." |
| Again, that's a past simple verb phrase for the condition, and then a bare infinitive verb phrase to show what they would do if that condition were met. |
| Let’s practice with this grammar more in this lesson. |
| Let's do some fill in the blank questions. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| If I |
| A restaurant, it would |
| [Second part of sentence] |
| A pizza place |
| If I |
| A restaurant, it would |
| [Second part of sentence] |
| A pizza place |
| Had, and be |
| Had, and be |
| If I had a restaurant, it would be a pizza place. |
| If I had a restaurant, it would be a pizza place. |
| Had is the past simple tense of "to have," and "be" is the bare infinitive form of "to be." |
| Also, this sentence shows that just because one person uses the past simple verb in the "what if," it doesn't mean they also have to do the conditional action in the second part of the sentence. |
| Here, it's the restaurant from the situation that "does" something, with "it would be." |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| If I |
| A grocery store, I'd |
| Lots of things. |
| If I |
| A grocery store, I'd |
| Lots of things. |
| Owned, and sell |
| Owned, and sell |
| If I owned a grocery store, I’d sell lots of things. |
| If I owned a grocery store, I’d sell lots of things. |
| Owned is the past simple form of "to own," and sell is the bare infinitive form of "to sell." In the other option, the forms are swapped around. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| If she |
| A store, she'd |
| A lot of business. |
| If she |
| A store, she'd |
| A lot of business. |
| Ran, and get |
| Ran, and get |
| If she ran a store, she'd get a lot of business. |
| If she ran a store, she'd get a lot of business. |
| While both answers have the correct form for "get," only the second has the correct past simple form for "ran." "Run" is the bare infinitive form, and you can't form this kind of sentence with a bare infinitive verb in both places. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| If I |
| the lottery, I’d |
| bowling every day. |
| If I |
| the lottery, I’d |
| bowling every day. |
| Won, and go |
| Won, and go |
| If I won the lottery, I’d go bowling every day. |
| If I won the lottery, I’d go bowling every day. |
| For this, even though both answers have the correct past simple form "won" for the first verb, the second verb needs to be in the base infinitive form. "Gone" is also in the past simple form, and since we can't have past simple verbs for both blank spaces, "Won, and gone" is incorrect. |
| Let's test your knowledge of this sentence structure. Unscramble the words to make a sentence. |
| Ready? |
| If |
| If I |
| If I had |
| If I had pets |
| If I had pets, I'd |
| If I had pets, I'd be |
| If I had pets, I'd be happy. |
| If I had pets, I'd be happy. |
| Unscramble the words to make a sentence. |
| If |
| If it |
| If it worked |
| If it worked, it'd |
| If it worked, it'd look |
| If it worked, it'd look cool. |
| If it worked, it'd look cool. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| If I were you, I (would or will) order two pizzas. |
| If I were you, I (would or will) order two pizzas. |
| would |
| would |
| If I were you, I would order two pizzas. |
| If I were you, I would order two pizzas. |
| Would is used here because conditional sentences like this use the past tense, and "will" does not match that tense. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| If he (is/were) taller, he could be a model. |
| If he (is/were) taller, he could be a model. |
| were |
| were |
| If he were taller, he could be a model. |
| If he were taller, he could be a model. |
| "Were" is used here as the past simple form, but "is" is the present tense form. So, "were" has to be used. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| If they (weren't or were) lazy, they'd have a job. |
| If they (weren't or were) lazy, they'd have a job. |
| weren't |
| weren't |
| If they weren't lazy, they'd have a job. |
| If they weren't lazy, they'd have a job. |
| "If they were NOT lazy, they would have a job" and "If they WERE lazy, they would have a job" are both grammatically correct sentences, but only the first makes sense in most situations. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| If she (had or have) more money, she’d buy a car. |
| If she (had or have) more money, she’d buy a car. |
| had |
| had |
| If she had more money, she’d buy a car. |
| If she had more money, she’d buy a car. |
| "had" is used here because it's the past simple form, and have is the bare infinitive form. We need to use the past simple form in the phrase after "If." "have" would only be correct if it was in the phrase that goes after "she'd." |
| Let's do some matching. |
| Listen to what I say. Can you match the verb used in the PAST SIMPLE phrase to its infinitive form? |
| If I had a restaurant, it would be a pizza place. |
| Listen one more time. |
| If I had a restaurant, it would be a pizza place. |
| Did you hear, "had"? "had" is the past simple form of "to have". |
| How about...? |
| If I were you, I would order two pizzas. |
| Let’s listen one more time. |
| If I were you, I would order two pizzas. |
| Did you hear "were"? "Were" is the past simple form of "to be". |
| Next... |
| If it worked, it'd look cool. |
| One more time. |
| If it worked, it'd look cool. |
| Did you hear "worked"? "worked" is the past simple form of "to work". |
| Next... |
| If I owned a grocery store, I'd sell lots of things. |
| One more time. |
| If I owned a grocery store, I'd sell lots of things. |
| Did you hear "owned"? "Owned" is the past simple form of "to own". |
| And... |
| If I won the lottery, I'd go bowling every day. |
| One more time. |
| If I won the lottery, I'd go bowling every day. |
| Did you hear "won"? "won" is the past simple form of "to win". |
| Thank you for watching. |
| Now you know how to make conditional statements in English. |
| ...and now you can move on to the next lesson in the pathway on EnglishClass101.com. |
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