Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Conditionals
person or thing that performs the action: possibilities:
j Masked thieves stole a valuable painting
from the museum last night. First conditional
When you make this into a passive sentence, if clause present tense;
the object of the verb becomes the subject: main clause future tense
The passive
j A valuable painting was stolen from the
museum last night. used to talk about the consequence of a
possible action:
The passive is formed with the auxiliary j If I write my essay this afternoon, I will have
verb be and the past participle of the verb: time to go out tonight. (it is still morning,
j The painting is valued at 2 million dollars. and it is quite possible that I will do this.)
j The lock had been broken and the cameras
had been switched off.
j Other museums have been warned to take
Second conditional
extra care. if clause past simple;
j Staff at the museum will be questioned main clause conditional tense
by police tomorrow.
used to talk about the consequences of a
j Museum security is to be improved.
hypothetical action:
Use the passive: j If I wrote my essay this afternoon,
I would have time to go out tonight.
when you do not know who performed
(it is still morning, but I think it is less likely
the action, or when this information is not
that I will do this.)
important. It is common in formal writing,
for example scientific writing:
j The liquid is heated to 60 and then filtered. Third conditional
N If you want to mention who performed if clause past perfect;
the action, you use by at the end of the main clause conditional perfect tense
sentence: used to talk about the possible consequence of
j The theft is being investigated by the police. an action that did not happen:
when you want to save new or important j If I had written my essay this afternoon,
information until the end of the sentence I would have had time to go out tonight.
for emphasis: (it is now evening, and I havent written my
j The picture was painted by Constable. essay: it is now impossible for me to go out.)