Conditionals
Zero, first, second and third: match the halves of each if-sentence.
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Conditionals: worked examples
Five from the set, with the answer filled in and the rule that decides it. The remaining questions are in the answer key below.
- 01
If you heat water to 100 degrees, it boils.
Zero conditional: if + present simple, present simple: always true.
- 02
If you mix blue and yellow, you get green.
Zero conditional: a result that is always the same stays in the present.
- 03
My dog barks if someone rings the doorbell.
'someone' is third person singular, and 'if' takes the present, not 'will'.
- 04
If you don't water plants, they die .
A general truth keeps the present simple in both halves of the sentence.
- 05
If the temperature falls below zero, water turns to ice.
No 'will' after 'if', and a scientific fact stays in the present.
Answer key: all 28 questions
- 01If you heat water to 100 degrees, it boils.
- 02If you mix blue and yellow, you get green.
- 03My dog barks if someone rings the doorbell.
- 04If you don't water plants, they die .
- 05If the temperature falls below zero, water turns to ice.
- 06If you press this red button, the machine stops .
- 07If it rains tomorrow, we will cancel the picnic.
- 08If she passes her exams, she'll study medicine.
- 09If we leave now, we won't be late.
- 10I'll give her the message if I see her this afternoon.
- 11If he doesn't apologise, I won't speak to him again.
- 12We'll miss the beginning if the bus is late.
- 13If I had more free time, I would learn another language.
- 14If I were you, I'd take the job.
- 15If we lived by the sea, we would swim every weekend.
- 16If I won a million pounds, I'd give half of it away.
- 17What would you do if you lost your passport abroad?
- 18If she worked a bit harder, she'd be top of the class.
- 19If you had told me earlier, I would have helped you yesterday.
- 20If we had taken a map, we wouldn't have got lost.
- 21If they hadn't scored in the last minute, they would have lost the match.
- 22If you had phoned me, I would have picked you up from the station.
- 23We would have gone to the concert if we'd known it was free.
- 24If the driver hadn't driven so fast, the accident wouldn't have happened.
- 25You won't get into the club unless you have a ticket.
- 26We'll eat in the garden unless it rains .
- 27If I had studied medicine, I would be a doctor now.
- 28If she weren't so shy, she would have applied for the job last week.
- English conditionalsFour patterns, chosen by how likely the situation is.
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