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Second and third conditionals are sentences that describe present or past hypothetical situations (the if clause) and their hypothetical results (the result clause).
Second conditionals deal with a hypothetical present situation and its hypothetical present or future result. For example, IfI were king, I would reduce taxes.
Third conditionals present a hypothetical past situation and its hypothetical past result. For example, IfI had been king, I would have reduced taxes.
It is also possible to mix these two conditionals to give, for example, a hypothetical past situation and its hypothetical present result.
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14. Complete the table with the correct structures, A-D.
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A. would+ verb
B. would have+ past participle
C. If+ past simple/ past continuous
D. If+ past perfect/ past perfect continuous |
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Conditional type
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If clause (situation)
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Result clause
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Second (hypothetical present situation with hypothetical present or future result)
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If+past simple/ past continuous |
would+verb |
| Third (hypothetical past situation with hypothetical past result) |
If+ past perfect/ past perfect continuous |
would have+ past participle |
| Mixed 1 (hypothetical past situation with present result) |
1 |
2 |
| Mixed 2 (hypothetical present situation with past result) |
3 |
4 |
| Note that there are variations in these structures. We can use other modals like could and might instead of would and sometimes the 'if clause' does not use the word if. For example, we might use an inversion (If he had known-+ Had he known) or express the if clause with a paraphrase (Without his rule= If he had not ruled). |
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15. Look at these conditionals from the text. Which type is each one?
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1. ... if we compared his supposed behaviour to that of many of the other Roman emperors, quite a few of them would almost certainly be regarded as even more eccentric.
2. ... had it not been for these treatments, he would not have been quite so unstable.
3. Had he left an heir, Russian history might well have gone in a different direction.
4. Without them, history would be a lot less interesting.
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