Conditional and Unreal Past

Today, we will study “ Conditional and Unreal  Past   “

   In English we can express three important ideas with “ if “

1- Likely or Probable

2- Unlikely or improbable

3- Impossible

So: “Likely or probable  “

Main clause – Future ;  if .... Present   .

e.G

He will come if  you call him.

It means : something will happen if a certain  condition is fullfilled.

***Like clauses begining with “ When “ “ as soon as “, etc. “ If – clauses” also have  no “ shall / will / would / should “ in them.

So: “Unlikely or improbable  “

Main clause – Conditional ;  if .... Past   .

e.G

He would  come if  you called him.

It means : The probable result of a  certain  condition that we suppose  or imagen .

*** The “ if –clause “ is not taking place at this moment , but I can imagine the probable result. We inlude here all the Unreal” Ifs “, Like:

If you were a fish, the cat wouldn’t  eat you.

So: “Impossible   “

Main clause – Conditional  perfect ;  if .... Past  perfect   .

e.G

He would  have come if  you  had called him.

It means :  He didn’t come ! Why ? Because you didn’t call him. .

*** All number three types are impossible  ideas, because we know  the condition was not fullfilled , but  we like to imagen the result  if ..........

 

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