way2go! 7. Coursebook, Schulbuch

176 GRAMMAR REVISITED You will remember the four most common types of conditionals (‘ if -sentences’) and how they are used. (You can also check your copy of way2go! 5 for a more detailed description.) Mixed conditionals, wishes and regrets Regular conditionals If you talk about cause and effect/things that are always true , you use: If/When + present simple present simple If you talk about real and possible situations in the future , you use: If + present simple will future If you talk about impossible things in the present or unlikely situations in the future , you use: If + past simple would/could/might + infinitive If you talk about things that didn’t happen in the past and their imaginary consequences , you use: If + past perfect would/could/might + have + past participle If you drop glass, it breaks . If you arrive late at school, you’ ll get detention. I ’d buy a new car if I won the lottery. I wouldn’t have called if I had known you were working. This is not the case in so-called ‘mixed conditionals’: Mixed conditionals An imaginary situation in the past has consequences for the present If you talk about an imaginary situation in the past that has consequences in the present, you use: If/When + past perfect would/could/might + infinitive If Derek had invested money in the Google company, he would be rich today. We would be in Bali now if you had won the raffle last month. A present situation influences how you see an imaginary past situation If you talk about an imaginary past situation influenced by a present or ongoing state, you use: If + past simple would/could/might + have + past participle If I wasn’t worried about money, I would have gone to a college that charges higher fees. Dad would have driven you to the university for your exam if he didn’t have so much work right now. In the four types of conditional sentences above, the if -clause (condition) and the main clause (consequence) refer to the same time. See also: If the college had a better reputation, past tense used to describe a present condition If he had graduated from a prestigious university, past perfect used to describe a past condition more students would apply . would + infinitive for a present consequence he would have found a good job immediately. would + have + past participle for a past consequence Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv