Second Conditional



Second conditional


The second conditional is used to talk about ‘unreal’ or impossible things.
  • If I won a lot of money I’d buy a big house in the country.
  • Where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world?
  • If you didn’t smoke so much you’d feel a lot better.
The structure is usually if + past simple and would + infinitive. It’s not important which clause comes first.

Look at the difference between the first and second conditionals.
  • In January: If it snows tomorrow I’ll go skiing. It might snow tomorrow.
  • In August: If it snowed tomorrow I’d go skiing. It almost certainly won’t snow tomorrow.
NOTE: Although many conditional sentences use if + will/would, conditional sentences can also use other words instead of ‘if’ – e.g. ‘when’ ‘as soon as’ ‘in case’ Other modal verbs can be used instead of ‘will/would’ – e.g. ‘can/could’, ‘may’ ‘might’.

Other types of conditional sentences are covered in another section.
- See more at: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/quick-grammar/conditionals-1#sthash.9rjtR3Uh.dpuf

Exercises:







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