second & third conditonal – English Grammar Profiler

Here is another post of some overlapping and clashing grammar points from different categories in the English Grammar Profile.  B1 point 72 clashes with the general definition at C1.

B1 Point 42 in the category of CLAUSES is defined as:

‘IF’ + PAST SIMPLE + WOULD, FUTURE, (SECOND CONDITIONAL)

imagined situation, often in the context of advice or opinion-giving.

B1 Point 72 CLAUSES:

conditional subordinate clauses with ‘if’ + past perfect simple and ‘would have’ + ‘-ed’ in the main clause, to talk about imagined situations in the past, often with regret.

B1 Point 47 in  the category of PAST/simple is defined as:

IMAGINED SITUATIONS AFTER ‘IF’: the possible result of an imagined situation in the present or future.

PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE:

He would teach me how to cook if he was free. (second conditional or habitual past)

Chinese, Male, Level 3, Writing Class.

*Finding long strings in iWeb is not allowed, so we can start to look for the most common past simple first.

if * _VVD

1 IF YOU WANTED 46530 2 IF I WANTED 35869

3 IF YOU GOT 21226

5 IF YOU MISSED 17898 (but most of these are not hypothetical)

6 IF THEY WANTED 13854 7 IF I GOT 11210 8 IF YOU TOOK 11191 9 IF YOU USED 11127 10 IF I KNEW 10981 11 IF YOU THOUGHT 10837 12 IF YOU BOUGHT 10716 13 IF HE WANTED 10594 14 IF YOU KNEW 10190 15 IF WE WANTED 10076 16 IF YOU MADE 9674 17 IF YOU CHOSE 9044 18 IF YOU LIKED 8948 19 IF YOU FOUND 8785 20 IF YOU WENT 8780

21 IF I TOLD 8084

22 IF YOU HIT 8069 (mostly present simple)

23 IF YOU PURCHASED 8047 24 IF YOU SAW 7655 25 IF YOU ANSWERED 7598 26 IF YOU ENJOYED 7530 27 IF I NEEDED 6974 28 IF YOU ASKED 6743

29 IF THEY KNEW 6733

30 IF YOU RECEIVED 6657 (most are not hypothetical)

How would you respond to this message if you received it from your manager?

businesswritingblog.com

31 IF YOU TRIED 6479 32 IF I SAID 6405 33 IF I WENT 6373

34 IF IT MEANT 5857

35 IF IT CAME 5738 36 IF YOU NEEDED 5725 37 IF SHE WANTED 5370 38 IF THEY GOT 5264 39 IF HE KNEW 5204 40 IF YOU PAID 5202 41 IF I MADE 5033

42 IF I TRIED 4992

43 IF YOU ‘RE INTERESTED 4753 44 IF IT WORKED 4577 45 IF I THOUGHT 4508 46 IF I USED 4350 47 IF YOU SAID 4207 48 IF YOU STARTED 4155 49 IF THEY MADE 4153 50 IF I TOOK 4057 51 IF WE GOT 3950 52 IF HE THOUGHT 3822

53 IF I MISSED 3787

54 IF IT HAPPENED 3725 55 IF HE GOT 3724 56 IF I SAW 3621 57 IF YOU CAME 3438 58 IF YOU LOOKED 3385 59 IF YOU GAVE 3294

60 IF YOU FORGOT 3133

61 IF WE KNEW 3111 62 IF I LIVED 3069

63 IF YOU DECIDED 3002

64 IF YOU FOLLOWED 2974 65 IF THEY CAME 2943 66 IF THEY THOUGHT 2941

67 IF YOU ADDED 2912

68 IF YOU WATCHED 2792 69 IF WE NEEDED 2782 70 IF YOU LIVED 2737 71 IF THEY WENT 2736 72 IF YOUVE READ 2710

73 IF YOU LOST 2675

74 IF YOU TOLD 2649 75 IF I FOUND 2646 76 IF SHE KNEW 2624 77 IF I BOUGHT 2607 78 IF THAT HAPPENED 2552 79 IF YOU PLAYED 2527 80 IF THEY NEEDED 2500 81 IF I FELT 2440 82 IF THEY TOOK 2433 83 IF IT TOOK 2427 84 IF IT GOT 2382 85 IF YOU LEFT 2374 86 IF THEY USED 2366

87 IF THEY TRIED 2354

88 IF I ASKED 2333 89 IF YOU INSTALLED 2321 90 IF IT WENT 2315 91 IF THEY FOUND 2277 92 IF I GAVE 2267 93 IF YOU CREATED 2256 94 IF HE WENT 2226 95 IF THEY SAW 2195 96 IF WE WENT 2174 97 IF I LEFT 2153 98 IF YOU WORKED 2146 99 IF YOU RAN 2104

100 IF YOU GREW 2093

A2 vocabulary:

added, decided, followed, forgot, grew, happened, hit, if, interested, lost, meant, missed, received, tried

If + had + pp

A search in iWeb for:

if * had _VVN

1 IF I HAD KNOWN 3261

If I had known, then I wouldn’t have asked.

listen

2 IF NOTHING HAD HAPPENED 1126 (This is not usually in a conditional sentence ‘as if’) 3 IF YOU HAD ASKED 1069 4 IF YOU HAD TOLD 941 5 IF I HAD GONE 828 6 IF I HAD SEEN 745 7 IF HE HAD KNOWN 640 8 IF I HAD USED 612 9 IF I HAD TAKEN 608 10 IF HE HAD SAID 554 11 IF I HAD MADE 553 12 IF THEY HAD KNOWN 522 13 IF SOMEONE HAD TOLD 464 14 IF THIS HAD HAPPENED 455 15 IF WE HAD KNOWN 442 16 IF YOU HAD READ 441 17 IF I HAD TRIED 421 18 IF I HAD GOTTEN 421 19 IF HE HAD SEEN 406 20 IF IT HAD HAPPENED 403 21 IF YOU HAD SAID 395 22 IF I HAD READ 366 23 IF HE HAD TAKEN 366 24 IF I HAD STAYED 360 25 IF THEY HAD SEEN 352 26 IF I HAD WANTED 349 27 IF I HAD BOUGHT 349 28 IF YOU HAD USED 333 29 IF YOU HAD BOUGHT 318 30 IF YOU HAD TAKEN 314 31 IF I HAD SAID 313 32 IF I HAD THOUGHT 301 33 IF HE HAD LIVED 297 34 IF YOU HAD KNOWN 294 35 IF HE HAD GONE 284 36 IF THEY HAD TAKEN 277 37 IF THAT HAD HAPPENED 271 38 IF WE HAD USED 264 39 IF HE HAD STAYED 262 40 IF WE HAD GONE 261 41 IF I HAD ASKED 259 42 IF I HAD FOUND 253 43 IF I HAD WAITED 249 44 IF IT HAD GONE 249 45 IF YOU HAD SEEN 244 46 IF IT HAD COME 240

47 IF YOU HAD INVESTED 236

48 IF HE HAD MADE 232 49 IF I HAD PAID 229

50 IF I HAD WRITTEN 225