Conditionals

What is Conditionals?

Within English, which covers grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, poetry, drama and the skills for clear communication, this topic explains Conditionals. English topics help you read closely and write with purpose, so each one here explains a skill and shows how it works in a model text.

Check that you can explain Conditionals in your own words and give one example from everyday life. If you can do that, you have understood the core idea.

Understanding Conditionals helps you read texts more closely and write with more control, which earns marks in both reading and writing papers.

Conditionals in detail

Conditional sentences express what might happen under certain conditions, typically with "if". The zero conditional states facts (If you heat ice, it melts). The first conditional is for real future possibilities (If it rains, we will stay in). The second conditional imagines unlikely or unreal situations (If I won the lottery, I would travel).

The third conditional talks about the past that cannot be changed (If I had studied, I would have passed). In formal English, the subjunctive "if I were" is used for the second conditional. Using conditionals correctly lets you discuss possibilities, advice, warnings and regrets.

How the interactive helps you understand Conditionals

Click a step, or use the Previous and Next buttons, to move through the sequence one stage at a time. Auto-play moves on for you.

Before you change anything, predict the result. Then change one value at a time and check whether your prediction was right. This is a quick way to build a correct mental model of Conditionals.

Real-life uses and examples

• Use Conditionals to make your own writing more precise and vivid.
• Support a point about Conditionals with a short, accurate quotation.
• Plan an essay paragraph by linking the technique to the reader’s response.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Quoting a long passage instead of picking a short, precise phrase.
• Naming a technique without explaining its effect on the reader.
• Learning the definition without testing it. Use the quiz and the interactive to check that you can apply the idea.