Page 103 - IELTS Preparation Grammar and Vocab

Conditionals 14

Grammar

Real and unreal conditionals

Conditional sentences may suggest that an event or situation is real - it is true, generally happens, has
happened or is likely to happen; or unreal - it is imaginary or untrue, did not happen or is not likely
to happen.
Real conditionals
If there is a health problem, vets deal with it quickly. (if + present simple, + present simple) .
Before safari parks were opened, f people wanted to see lions and giraffes, they had to go to a zoo. ( if + past
simple, + past simple)
If we don't provide safe havens for animals, many will die out (if + present simple, + will + bare infinitive)
Unreal conditionals
If they were in the wild, they would have more space to roam free. (if + past simple, + would + bare infinitive)
If we had introduced captive breeding programmes sooner, we would have prevented the extinction of a
number of animals. (if + past perfect, + would have + past participle)
Real conditionals
We can use a wide variety of other patterns in the if-clause and the main clause
If we're going to protect animals in Africa, we'll need to invest much more money ...(f+ going to, + will + bare
infinitive)
If we close zoos, we might deprive people of the opportunity of seeing wild animals. + present simple, + might
+ bare infinitive)
If you think closing down zoos will improve the chances of survival of endangered species, you're making a big
mistake. (L f+ present simple, + present continuous)
We don't usually use will in the if-clause
If they're not eaten by the larger animals first, they'll be killed by visitors' cars. (not #4/fey-over4be-eatert ...)
However, we can use will in the ?f-clause
when we talk about a result of something in the main clause
... we should have captive breeding programmes if it will help save species. or... it helps
it
when we want to show that we strongly disapprove of something
A: That zookeeper was really annoyed with me.
8: Well, f you will throw stones at the animals, it's not surprising!
Unreal conditionals
We can use modals other than would in the main clause:
If we'd introduced captive breeding earlier, animals now extinct might have survived.
We don't usually use would in the #-clause
If we had more funding we would be able to do even more... (not f-ive-wettleiLhave-meirelunding ...)
Mixed conditionals
We can sometimes vary conditionals by mixing the tenses:
if + past tense, would have + past participle
If it wasn't so expensive, we would have opened many more safari parks around the country. (= it is very
expensive, so we didn't open any more)

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