Англійська граматика: Unreal Conditional

First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.
Napoleon Hill

            Do you consider yourself to be in touch with reality? Are you really sure that a floor can't also be a ceiling? Finally, how do we know that the sky is not green and we are all colour-blind? As you see, reality (whatever it is) always leaves a lot to imagination. 
           Let us read a piece of Lewis Carroll’s story:

            
                Shall I teach you how to dream? Oh no, that’s definitely a personal science of everyone. But there’s something else I want to tell you about and the topic is called UNREAL CONDITIONAL. There are two types of UNREAL CONDITIONAL sentences – The Second Conditional and The Third Conditional. They are called UNREAL because in these constructions the 'if' clause expresses a condition (present, future or past) which is not true and can’t be possible in real life. 
        
        The Second Conditional refers to an unreal (or very unlikely) situation in the PRESENT or FUTURE time. That is what we can only imagine. The most confusing thing about the second conditional is that we use the PAST TENSE in the 'if' clause, even though we are referring to the PRESENT or FUTURE!
        I am very busy (and very broke) writing this post now. As I am sitting here in front of my computer, I am thinking about taking a trip to Malaysia (that has been my dream for the last half a year). It would be really nice to go to the airport and get on a plane right now. However, this is completely impossible! I can express this by saying:

The structure of the Second Conditional sentences is:

               
               There is one other rule you should be aware of. (You will hear native speakers break this rule, but you should use it especially in formal speech and formal writing.) If the main verb in the "if" clause is "be," we use "WERE" with ALL subjects, including first and third person singular. Consider the following examples:

• "If Napoleon were alive today, he would be fighting a war." (UNREAL: Napoleon is dead.)
• "If my brother were here, he would buy me a beer." (UNREAL: My brother is in Costa Rica.) 

         However, in everyday conversation, "was" is often used. As well as ‘would’ may be contracted to 'd:

• She’ d marry Ram if he was rich.

         The expression “If I were you” is mainly used to give advice:

• If I were you, I'd look for a new place to live.
• If I were you, I'd go back to school and get more qualifications.
 
         Sometimes, we use could or might instead of would to make the situation in the result clause less certain.   • If I had the chance to do it again, I would do it differently. (that’s for sure)
• If we met up for lunch, we could go to that new restaurant. (or to any other place)
• If I spoke to him directly, I might persuade him. (but I’m not certain)

         There’s a nice song 'If I were a carpenter' by Johnny and June Cash containing a lot of The Second Conditional sentences. It starts:

Johnny Cash: If I were a carpenter
And you were a lady,
Would you marry me anyway?
Would you have my baby?
June Carter: If you were a carpenter,
And I were a lady,
I'd marry you anyway.
I'd have your baby." 

The Third Conditional refers to an unreal situation in the PAST. In other words, it refers to something that did NOT happen in the past, though maybe it was one of the options. The conditions in The 3rd Conditional are impossible because they are in the past and we cannot change what has happened. The third conditional is also like a dream, but with no possibility of the dream coming true.
My mother is very thin-skinned and it’s very easy to hurt her

. I know this and still often rudely talk to her. Last night we had a serious argument. I sad something really offensive and she started crying. 

I WOULDN’T HAVE SAID those words if I HAD KNOWN they would make her cry. 

          I really regret offending her, but I can’t change it, because what’s past is past. So the condition was not true, and that particular condition can never be true because it is finished. We use the Past Perfect tense to talk about the impossible past condition. We use WOULD HAVE + Past Participle to talk about the impossible past result. The important thing about the third conditional is that both the condition and result are impossible now.

      Study these examples:

         Notice that the main clause can contain 'would', 'could' or 'might’:

1) If I had seen him at the meeting, I would have asked him. (But he wasn't there so I didn't.)
2) If I had seen him at the meeting, I could have asked him. ( But he wasn't there so it wasn't possible.)
3) If I had seen him at the meeting, I might have asked him. (But I'm not sure. Perhaps if the opportunity had arisen.)





Homer Simpson once said: “If God had wanted us to be vegetarians, he wouldn’t have made animals out of meat.”


 

           Now as you are informed enough I want to propose you a couple of creative tasks.

Task 1.  Just answer the question:



Task 2.  Do you believe in fate? Are things pre-determined to happen? Or is it all just coincidence? The following scene from the movie ‘The curious case of Benjamin Button’ puts across an important message. Daisy, who devoted her life into dancing, was hit by a taxi. But if only one thing at that time had happened differently the end of Daisy’s afternoon would have been another one. Watch the scene and write as many sentences using The Third Conditional as you can hear.

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