So, we're going to be looking at what could be one of my favorite conditionals...
the second conditional.
What do a crying best friend, Donald Trump and a scary bear all have in common?
......well they're all reasons that we could use the second conditional.
First, a scary bear, well a deadly bear! What would you do if you saw
a bear. Let me give you three options.ow would you (A) run away very fast. (B) climb a tree
or (C) Would you play dead? Now if you chose (a) and (b) them I'm very sorry you're dead!
If you see a bear, well in this case a brown bear then you should play dead
that's the general advice that's given to help you survive. Now are you likely
to see a bear? Well no, not really. Unless you go hiking in the Canadian mountains.
However, it could happen, it's just very unlikely, so this is a very good example
of when we might use second conditional something is possible but not probable
So, it's extremely unlikely that you are going to be confronted by a bear.
Now Donald Trump. Let's not get into politics... the conditional is this:
If I were president, I would.... what would I do? if I were president, I would invest in
education on.. YouTube!
If I were president, I would make sure men and women were paid equally.
If I were president, I would... offer free cake to all my citizens. Okay
So, this is a completely unrealistic impossible situation in the present
I'm not going to be President, I'm not president now and so this shows the
difference between first and second conditional quite clearly. It is in as many
cases an impossibility I can't become president! Well, I definitely can't become
president because I'm English and you have to be Americans being American president
Now a crying friend, they might call you up, you might be sat over a cup of coffee
and they might say "what should I do?" We often use second conditional in fact we
frequently use second conditional to give advice. If I were you, I would dump your boyfriend!
If I were you, I'd get a new job. If I were you, I'd go out and have fun.
So this is second conditional giving advice.
So that's why and when to use
second conditional. Now, let's look at the structure.
So, second conditional a nice simple sentence.
If I won the lottery, I'd go on holiday... I'd probably go on a
holiday for a year but let's focus on the structure! So, as you can see we have
IF ...but let's see what tense do we have after IF?
we have the PAST SIMPLE. So, if I won not if I win. Of course we have our subjects
our objects and we have our comma when we have the if clause first. Now in the
result clause we have I'd, I'd go on holiday
what does D represent? Well it's the contracted form of would. Would is the
normal modal verb that we would use in second conditional.
you could of course use maybe should or could but most often we use would. However, like will- I'll
you'll- she'll- they'll- would contract would. It's much more natural so- I'd- she'd
you'd -they'd -he'd -we'd... think that's it? okay so contracting the 'would' again is a
great way to help you sound more natural but also recognize it when you are
listening to a native speaker. Okay and after modal verbs like 'would'
what verb do we have? That's right the infinitive form so there we go very
simple structure if plus past simple plus would plus infinitive verb
Now some of you might want to ask me the question Why do we use I 'were' you 'were' in a
second conditional? well it's simply just the convention it's often more formal
particularly in writing so in formal emails letters and academic writing but
also it's generally how we say the second conditional especially when
you're giving advice ' if I were you' to say if I was you well you can it's
grammatically technically correct but it's not the usual way that we would say
second conditionals. With I you she and he so don't get confused by that it's only
with the conditional now remember it's important to compare and contrast the
conditional so we understand the difference in meaning for example if I
win the lottery I'll go on holiday and if I won the lottery I'd go on holiday
both of those are possible however one indicates that we think it is much more
unlikely to happen using the second conditional suggests it's a dream it's
unlikely you'll win the lottery however using first conditional if I win
the lottery I'll go on holiday this kind of implies you're very optimistic and
you think it's a real possibility so depending on your perspective you could
use first or second so your homework conditional train are starting with if I
won the lottery let's imagine you've become rich so if I
won the lottery I'd buy a big house if I bought a big house I'd have a big garden
if I had a big garden I'd get a big dog if I got a big dog I'd what would I do
have to walk it a lot if I had to walk the dog a lot I'd get lots of exercise
if I got lots of exercise I could eat more cake see how far you can go with
those conditionals guys they are a really lovely way of practicing the
structure and also emphasizing the reasons why we use those particular
conditional so thank you so much for watching again I can't wait to hear what
you would do if you won the lottery don't forget to subscribe below
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