A Primer
Peter Mangiaracina 1

 Disclaimer
 Key to Formulae and Terms used in presentation
 Real Conditional
 Unreal Conditional
 Past Unreal Conditional
Peter Mangiaracina 2

The slideshows in this series are not meant
to be comprehensive, but rather are starting
points for further study by Intermediate
students of ESL (English as a Second
Language).
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Formulae are a way to structure a sentence. Below is an explanation of the
elements of the formulae used in this presentation.
 Subject
 The doer of an action. Usually appears at the beginning of
a main clause. In the sentence “Bob is taller than Jill,” Bob
is the subject
 Verb
 The functional verb in the sentence (the one that gets
conjugated).
 Root
 The stem of a verb, or the infinitive without “to.” The root of
“to go” is go.
 Past Participle (PP)
 The conjugation used for the perfect tenses. In the
clause, “If I had gone…,” Peter Mangiaracina
gone is a past participle. 4

 Object
 The receiver of an action. Usually appears after the verb. In
the sentence, “The dog catches the ball,” ball is the object.
When “object” appears in a formula, it is only for transitive
verbs (verbs that take objects). Otherwise something else
might go in its place, like a prepositional phrase, or even
nothing.
 Adjective
 An adjective modifies a noun. In the sentence, “Bob throws
the red ball,” red is an adjective.
 Clause
 Any collection of words that contains a subject and a verb.
There are main clauses that stand on their own and
dependent clauses which need a main clause to have
meaning. Peter Mangiaracina 5

 The present real conditional is used when talking
about what you might do in real life situations. It can
happen:
 I sometimes go to the park. If I go to the park today, I
will play Frisbee with my dog.
 I might go to Madrid next weekend. If I go to Madrid I
will see a bullfight.
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 The present unreal conditional is used to express a
present or future condition. It tells us how things
would be or what would happen if the situation were
different:
 The truth: I don’t have a car. I don’t visit you often.
 The condition: If I had a car I would visit you often.
 Formula:
 If+subject+verb
(past)+object, subject+would/could+verb (root)
+object. Peter Mangiaracina 7

 The unreal conditional is made up of an “IF”(If I
had…) clause and a main “WOULD/COULD” (I
would…) clause.
 You can order the clauses as you like.
 You work so hard. You’re tired all the time.
 If you didn’t work so hard, you wouldn’t be tired all the
time.
 You don’t have money. You can’t buy a new car.
 If you had money, you could buy a new car.
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 The form of the verb in the if-clause is the same as the past tense
form of the verb:
 What time would we get to work if we took the subway?
 Why wouldn’t your friend complain if you never called her?
 What would you buy if you had a million dollars?
 There is one exception, though: the verb to be takes were for all
persons:
 I am – If I were: If I were you, I’d be more careful
 He is – If he were: If he were rich, he’d never work.
 You are – If you were: If you weren’t my friend, I’d never see you.
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 The past unreal conditional is used to express a
regret or the avoidance of a regret about something
in the past. It is about what you would have done if
the situation were different.
 The truth: I didn’t go to the store yesterday. I missed a
big sale.
 The conditional: If I had gone to the store yesterday I
wouldn’t have missed the big sale.
 Formula:
 If + subject + had + past participle…, Subject + would
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+ have + past participle…

 The past unreal conditional consists of two clauses, an if clause and
a would clause.
 The if-clause refers to an unreal past event or condition:
 * If I had arrived on time... (I didn't)
 * If it hadn't rained yesterday... (it did)
 The would clause describes the consequence:
 * ...I wouldn't have missed the train.
 * ...we would have gone to the beach.
 * It wasn't warm yesterday. We didn't go to the beach.
 * If it had been warm yesterday, we would have gone to the beach.
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 An unreal past condition may have a consequence in
either the present or the past.
 * If you had listened to my advice, you wouldn't be
in trouble now. (now)
 * If I had eaten more eggs when I was younger, I
would probably like them now.
 * If it had rained an hour ago, the streets would be
wet. (now)
 Formula: In this case the formula changes for the
would clause:
 If + subject + had + past participle…, subject + would
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+ root verb…