second conditional modal verbs exercises

If I had time, I would do interesting things ( NOT If I would have time I would do interesting things)Ĭonditional sentences are flexible, you can swap the ‘ if clause' with the second clause and the meaning does not change and you can do this with all conditional sentences. First, in the exercise on the left, choose the correct modal verb in the present tense, in order to construct a text that makes sense.

It's important to remember NOT to put the modal verb ( ‘ would', ‘ could' or ‘ might' ) in the conditional or ‘ if' clause when using conditional sentences: In the unlikely situation of getting less work, this man may ( or may not) write a novel There is a stronger possibility of a better world in an imaginary world where politicians are honest In order to change the way we describe the meaning of the ‘ main clause' in the second conditional sentences we can use ‘ would' which is more common, ‘ could', to talk about possibility and ‘ might' to describe general uncertainty.Ī man does not have a job but hypothetically if he did he would be happier in his life

Second conditional: describing the consequences This person is not working on a farm and they use the second conditional to describe their mood if, in a hypothetical situation, they did. This person is a teacher but they use the second conditional to talk about their present situation could be different. This person does not have a million dollars at the moment but in an imaginary situation when they did, they would buy a house. If + subject + past simple/ continuous + object, would/ could/ might + bare infinitive

It is used in conditional sentences with unreal condition, as the past of 'will' for the backshift of tenses, in the meaning of 'not want', 'refuse', 'be unwilling' to do something, as an analogue of 'used to' to speak about regular actions in. When we want to talk about hypothetical, imaginary or ‘ unreal' situations in the present or future we use another form of ‘ if' sentences called the2 nd conditional The modal verb would has a few different meanings and cases of use. We can use ‘ if' sentences to talk about general truths ( the ‘0 conditional') as well as future possibilities (‘ the 1 st conditional').

Second conditional modal verbs exercises