|
DETAILS
School: Satriwithaya 3
Level: M5
Date: 22 Nov – 30 Nov 2006 SUBJECT
Conditional sentences. ACTIVITY
Group work: Listening, speaking and understanding. AIM
Understanding the way to use conditional sentences. VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR
See page 2. PREPARATIONS
Students should be working on the grammar in their normal classes. This is merely an addition. ESTIMATED TIME
1 full period.
PROCEDURE
Look at Sylvie’s morning and work out the story. (See page 2) Have students try doing the board game and discuss it afterwards. (See page 3)
Sylvie’s morning! Sylvie had to be at the airport for her flight at 9am, but she overslept and didn’t wake up until 7.30am. She got dressed very quickly, threw everything into her suitcase and ran out of the house. When she got to the airport she realized she had forgotten her passport and ticket. So she took a taxi home, grabbed them from the coffee table, and got in the taxi again to go back to the airport. One mile from the airport the taxi broke down, so she tried to flag down another, but they were all taken and she had to run the rest of the way. She arrived at the airport exhausted to find that she had missed her flight. She went to speak to the airline clerk who told her there was another flight in three hours. While she was waiting, she went to buy a book, but she was so preoccupied with her difficult morning that she forgot to pay for it and was arrested by the police. She was held for three hours and missed her flight again. Sylvie went home and decided never to fly anywhere again! What to do?
1 Cut up the paragraphs before your lesson. 2 Put students in pairs and give them the paragraphs. Ask them to read and put them in the correct order. 3 Ask students if Sylvie had a good or a bad morning, and why it was bad. 4 Write the problems on the board as students call them out, and elicit the consequences, e.g. She forgot to pay ï‚®ï€ She was arrested. 5 Ask students to imagine that Sylvie had a good morning, and write on the board accordingly, e.g. She didn’t forget to pay ï‚®ï€ She wasn’t arrested. 6 Use one example to present the third conditional, e.g. If she hadn’t forgotten to pay, she wouldn’t have been arrested.
Conditionals
In the English language adverbial clauses beginning with 'if', 'provided that', 'unless', or with other conjunctions of similar meaning, when used together with another clause which tells what will or might happen in the event that the condition contained in the 'if clause' is fulfilled, are called 'conditionals'. For example:
 If you smoke inside the building, you will set the fire alarm off.
 If the fire alarm goes off, the computer automatically calls the fire brigade.
Conditional Clauses
Condition clause Result clause
Zero Conditional If + present simple present simple
First Conditional If + present simple will + bare infinitive
Second Conditional If + past simple would + bare infinitive
Third Conditional If + past perfect would + have + past participle
Mixed Conditional If + past perfect would + bare infinitive
It is very important that you know these and understand the differences between them as students and course books refer to them in this way. Let us look at these a little more closely.
The Zero Conditional
Form: If + present simple + present simple
Example: If water is cooled to below 0oC, it freezes.
Use: To express scientific facts and things that the speaker considers to be true in all situations when the condition is fulfilled.
The First Conditional
Form: If + present simple + will + bare infinitive
Example: If it rains, we'll go to the cinema instead.
Use: To express what will happen on the fulfillment of a condition that the speaker considers real and possible.
The Second Conditional
Form: If + past simple + would + bare infinitive
Example: If I had a car, I'd go out more.
Use: To express the result of an imaginary present or future situation. In the example as the speaker does not have a car, the condition is not fulfilled and therefore he/she does not go out more.
The Third Conditional
Form: If + past perfect + would + have + past participle
Example: If you had asked me, I would have gone with you.
Use: To express the result of an imaginary situation in the past. In the example the reality is that the speaker was not asked and so did not go with the listener.
Mixed Conditional
Form: If + past perfect + would + bare infinitive
Example: If you had studied harder, you would have a better job.
Use: To express the imaginary present result of an imaginary situation in the past.
It is also very important to understand that the above are not all the possibilities that exist. They are merely the most common.
Mini Quiz â„–. 1
1. Identify the following conditional sentences:
a) If I get out of work early enough, I'll buy the tickets on the way home.
b) If you had called, I wouldn't have been so worried.
c) If I drink beer, I put on weight very quickly.
d) If I won the lottery, I'd buy a Ferrari.
e) If I win the lottery, I'll buy a Ferrari.
f) If I had married Linda, I'd be happy now.
g) I'd come with you if I didn't have so much work to do.
h) We'll be in real trouble if we're caught.
i) She won't speak to me. If I call her, she puts the phone down.
j) I wouldn't come now even if you begged me!
k) What would you do if you saw a ghost?
l) What would you have said if he had proposed?
2. What does the choice of conditionals in sentences (d) and (e) above tell us about the speakers?
3. In the sentences a-l above what time(s) do(es) each clause refer to?
4. Which sentences have conditions that the speaker considers imaginary?
5. Which conditional(s) is/are used to refer to:
a. unreal past events
b. unlikely/improbable future or imaginary/untrue present or future situations
c. general or universal truths
d. unreal past events with unreal present consequences
e. possible future situations / conditions which must happen so that something else can
Relative Clauses
Even relatively experienced teachers often find relative clauses confusing. Perhaps because of this, students also have difficulty with them so it is essential for you to have a good grasp of the basics. Essentially, a relative clause gives information about the subject of the sentence in which it is contained. There are two types of relative clause: Defining and Non-defining. Defining relative clauses contain information that in some way limit the subject. Non-defining clauses, on the other hand, merely add information about the subject.
The following sentences contain relative clauses:
 My daughter, who is now twenty, has moved to Birmingham.
 The tree that is marked with a white cross is going to be cut down.
Sentence 1 above contains a non-defining relative clause while sentence 2 contains a defining relative clause. You should notice that the non-defining relative clause is separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. If you take away the non-defining clause the basic meaning of the sentence remains intact. To understand the use of the defining relative clause in the second sentence we have to set a context. Imagine that the tree in question is in an orchard. If we removed the defining relative clause from the sentence leaving 'The tree is going to be cut down', would we know which tree? Of course not, because the information contained in the defining relative clause is absolutely essential in order for us to be able to identify the tree.
So what is all the fuss about then? This seems a relatively simple concept. Well, have a look at the following two sentences and then ask yourself which of them could mean that the unusual thing was the fact that I had a meal at a local restaurant and how you would explain this to an EFL student.
 Today, I had a meal at a local restaurant that was very unusual.
 Today, I had a meal at a local restaurant which was very unusual.
The answer is that the relative pronoun 'which' can be used to refer to the whole of the previous clause. The relative pronoun 'that' in the first sentence can only refer to the local restaurant being unusual.
Mini Quiz â„–. 2
Assuming correct usage of the relative clauses in the following sentences decide which are defining and on how they limit the meaning of the subject.
My husband who is a musician has left me.
My brother, who lives in France, is coming to visit me.
That's the man whose house burnt down the other night.
She is the woman who I was telling you about.
Is there a shop where I can get some plasters near here?
Do you know the reason why I can't come with you?
Who was that handsome man you were with when I saw you with yesterday?
My car, which is ten years old now, has broken down again.
Question Tags
Question tags are the small questions that often come at the end of sentences, they are usually found in spoken English. Look at the examples below:
1. That was great wasn't it?
2. That wasn't a particularly good film, was it?
3. He's that actor from 'Neighbours', isn't he?
4. You've been here before, haven't you?
5. This tastes good, doesn't it?
6. He wrote plays for the BBC, didn't he?
7. You can't drive, can you?
8. Peter could always go with him, couldn't he?
Mini Quiz â„–. 3
Read these 'rules' for forming question tags and then relate them to the above examples.
a) If the sentence is affirmative, the tag is negative.
b) If the sentence is negative, the tag is positive.
c) If the subject is an impersonal pronoun, 'it' is used in the tag.
d) If the subject is a noun, the appropriate pronoun is used in the tag.
e) The tense remains the same in both the sentence and the tag.
f) If there is an auxiliary in the sentence, use it in the tag.
g) If there is no auxiliary, then use 'do', 'does' or 'did' as appropriate.
These are not really rules as there are many 'exceptions'.
1. Let's eat out, shall we?
2. I'm naughty, aren't I Mummy?
3. No one else phoned, did they?
4. Pass me that spanner, would you?
Intonation is very important in tag questions. A rising intonation on the question tag means you are asking a real question and are not sure of the answer. A falling intonation means you are not asking a question, just seeking confirmation or agreement.
Try saying these:
 Whew, it's hot, isn't it?
 I think the train is due at two thirty, isn't it?
You will have noticed that your intonation went down on the question tag in the first sentence but up on the question tag in the second sentence. This is because in the first sentence both speaker and listener are experiencing the heat and so it is not really a question. In the second, however, the speaker is uncertain ('I think…') and so it is a genuine question. Listen to other people’s use of question tags. Do you agree with what has been said here about intonation?
Answers to Quiz â„–. 1 Conditionals:
Question Conditional Condition Clause Result Clause
a 1st Future Future
b 3rd Past (Imaginary) Past
c Zero Always Always
d 2nd Future (Imaginary) Future
e 1st Future Future
f Mixed Past (Imaginary) Past
g 2nd Present (Imaginary) Future
h 1st Future Future
i Zero Always Always
j 2nd Future or Present (Imaginary) Future
k 2nd (Question) Future (Imaginary) Future
l 3rd (Question) Past (Imaginary) Past
The speaker in (d) uses the 2nd conditional and so doesn't believe he will ever win the lottery, whereas the speaker in (e) is more optimistic and believes there is a chance he will win.
See table of answers for question 1.
See table of answers for question 1.
a) 3rd and Mixed
b) 2nd
c) Zero
d) Mixed
e) 1st
Answers to Quiz â„–. 2 Relative Clauses
Relative Clauses
Question Clause Type Function
1 Defining Limits the group of 'my husbands' to one. This implies that the subject has more than one husband!
2 Non-defining Only a comment. The only inference that can be drawn is that as it was not necessary to use a defining clause the subject has only one brother.
3 Defining Limits the group of 'all men' to the man we both know whose house burnt down the other night.
4 Defining Limits group of 'all women' to the woman that I was telling you about.
5 Defining Limits group of 'shops' to those that sell plasters.
6 Defining Limits group of all reasons to the one that explains 'why I can't come with you.'
7 Defining Limits group of 'all men' to the one 'I saw you with yesterday.'
8 Non-defining Only a comment. Implies that age is the reason it broke down.
Answers to Quiz â„–. 3 Question Tags
1, 3, 4, 8
2, 7
1, 2, 5
8
all (In sentence 4 the tense is understood)
1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8
5, 6
 |
