Valme’s English Corner

Conditionals
First and Second Conditional
A. Match the two parts of the sentences.
1. If Dave had $ 100,000 to buy a car,
2. If CD’s were cheaper,
3. If the advert is funny,
4. If you lend me some money today,
5. If Liz worked in advertising,
6. If the company spent more on advertising,
7. If I go shopping later,
a. I’d buy more music.
b. their products would be better known.
c. I’ll buy a present for Mum.
d. he’d buy a Ferrari 355.
e. I’ll pay you back tomorrow.
f. people will remember it and buy the product.
g. she’d be brilliant at it.

B. Complete the sentences in the First or Second conditional. Use the correct form of the verbs.
1. If I ______________ (be) a film star, I ______________ (buy) very expensive clothes.
2. I ______________ (phone) you if I ______________ (decide) to go shopping.
3. Tim ____________ (go out with) Helen if she _____________ (ask) him. But she’s too shy.
4. If I _______________ (be) an advertising manager, I _____________ (not make) offensive
adverts.
5. The shoe shop ______________ (not sell) many Nike trainers if they ____________ (not
reduce) the prices soon.
6. If my brother ______________ (pass) his driving test, Mum _______________ (let) him use
her car. I’m sure he’ll pass!

C. Choose the correct alternatives.

1. The advert will be successful as long as / unless people understand it.
2. You will win a prize provided that / unless you send us the correct answer.
3. We won’t sell the band’s latest CD as long as / unless they really need it.
4. I’ll watch the film on TV as long as / unless it isn’t interrupted by adverts.

D. Rewrite the sentences. Use UNLESS, AS LONG AS, and PROVIDED (THAT):
1. We won’t use the same advert again if people don’t like it. (provided that)
We _____________________________________________________________________
2. We won’t watch satellite TV if they don’t reduce the number of adverts. (unless)
We _____________________________________________________________________
3. I won’t go to the cinema this evening if Tom isn’t going to be there. (as long as)
I _______________________________________________________________________
4. The company won’t succeed if it doesn’t change its image. (unless)
The _____________________________________________________________________
5. I won’t buy cosmetics if they’re tested on animals. (provided that)
I _______________________________________________________________________

E. Complete the text in the First or Second conditional. Use the correct form of the verbs.
What do young people think?
A lot of TV adverts are made for young people, but what do they think of them? We asked some
teenagers for their opinions. ‘If an advert is funny, people 1.____________ (buy) the product’,
says Mark, aged 18. ‘I think that if an advert doesn’t catch your attention quickly, you
2._____________ (not remember) it, and consequently you 3.________________ (not bother)
to buy the item.
Jackie, aged 17, says, ‘Advertisers think that teenagers will buy anything if the advert
4._________________ (have) a connection with ‘youth’. For example, advertisers think that if
they 5.______________ (play) some good music in a jeans advert, young people

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6.___________________ (want) that particular brand. I don’t like this type of advertising
because the adverts are always the same. If these adverts 7.______________ (be) original, I
8._______________ (like) them more. Also, I don’t like adverts for drinks where everyone is
smiling provided that there 9.______________ (be) a lot of cola, or another kind of drink.
Advertisers must think that we’re stupid. If I 10.______________ (work) in advertising, I
11._________________ (assume) people were more intelligent’.

Third conditional
F. Translate the sentences into your language.
1. If the advert had told the truth about the shampoo, nobody would have bought it.
Si _______________________________________________________________________
2. The advertising campaign would have been more successful if they had researched it better.
La _______________________________________________________________________
3. I wouldn’t have known about the concert if they hadn’t advertised it on TV.
Yo _______________________________________________________________________

Now compare those translations with the First and Second conditionals below:
4. If I pass all the final exams, my mother will let me go to David Bisbal’s concert.
Si ________________________________________________________________________
5. If she won the lottery, she would travel to New York or London.
Si ________________________________________________________________________
So, bear in mind those differences seen, OK?
G. Complete the sentences in the third conditional. Use the correct form of the verbs.
1. If they _________________ (promote) the soap as a luxury item, I’m sure that more people
__________________(buy) it.
2. The campaign _________________ (succeed) if the agency _________________ (spend)
more money.
3. Nobody _________________ (notice)if the company _________________ (increase) the
price of the product a little.
4. If the advertisers ________________ (choose) better music, the commercial
___________________ (be) more interesting.
5. If you ____________________ (not remind) me about Brad’s birthday, I
__________________ (forget) all about it.
6. If the advert ___________________ (not irritate) me so much, I __________________
(consider) buying the product.
7. The brand ___________________ (not be) so famous if Cindy Crawford
_________________ (not advertise) it.

H. Write third conditional sentences.

1. if / Ella / invite / me / to her house / I / go
- __________________________________________________________________________
2. people / like / the commercial more / if / it / be / in black and white
-___________________________________________________________________________
3. nobody / buy / the record / if / the jeans advert / not use / it
-___________________________________________________________________________
4. if / Graham / see / you yesterday / he / say / hello
-___________________________________________________________________________
5. if / the agency / have / more money / they / employ / better designers
-___________________________________________________________________________
6. Philip / not miss / the bus / if / he / get up / earlier
-___________________________________________________________________________

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I. Combine the sentences to show how Nicola’s day could have been different. Use the
Third conditional.
1. Nicola had an argument with her boyfriend, James. 2. She was alone at home.
3. She switched on the radio. 4. She heard an advert for a club.
5. She went there that evening. 6. She met her new boyfriend, David.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………

F I R S T, S E C O N D or T H I R D C o n d i t i o n a l ?
J. Match the two parts of the sentences.
1. If we can’t improve the product, a. Ford will put it on TV all the time.
2. If I’d known there was a half-price sale, b. we’ll have to replace it with something better.
3. If there is English in the advert, c. the product would look more attractive.
4. If they’d done some market research, d. I’d have bought lots of things.
5. If the car advert is popular, e. the agency will translate it for foreign markets.
6. If the colours were lighter, f. they would have known what people wanted.

K. Complete the sentences in the First, Second or Third conditional. Use the correct form
of the verbs.
1. If CD Walkmans were cheaper, I _______________ (get) one.
2. If mini-skirts come back into fashion, we ________________ (sell) them in our shop.
3. If Sony had wanted older people to buy the music system, they _____________ (market) it
differently.
4. We’ll go to another agency if this one ______________ (not suggest) a good campaign.
5. People wouldn’t have remembered the advert if they _____________ (not see) it every day.
6. I’d change the advertising campaign if I ______________ (be) the manager.
7. The commercial will have more impact if we _______________ (use) film of real events.
8. We wouldn’t spend so much money on promoting the film if we ________________ (not
have) confidence.

L. Choose the correct answer.

1. When you ( are starting, start, will start ) your diet, you will have to give up chocolate.
2. You won’t lose weight unless you ( will change, changed, change ) your eating habits.
3. If I had had an appetite, I ( would eat, ate, would have eaten ) more.
4. It would be much better at this club there ( would be, are, were ) more people.
5. If I had known how many people wanted to exercise, I ( will form, would have formed,
formed ) an exercise group.
6. When you grill the chicken, there ( are, were, would be ) fewer calories in it.
7. Unless the temperature ( will rise, rose, rises ), I’m going to the beach today.
8. What ( would you do, you did, had you done ) if you were me?
9. It ( cheer you up, will cheer you up, would cheer you up ) if you go and buy yourself a new
dress.
10. You ( can join, could have joined, could join ) the aerobics class if you had signed up on
time.
M. Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb in brackets. All conditionals may be used.
1. If you _____________ (want) to remain healthy, ____________ (eat) less salt, sugar and fat!
2. Unless you _____________ (get) at least seven hours sleep a night, you ___________ (feel)
tired the following day.
3. If you _______________ (need) a holiday, _______________ (you take) one?
4. If you ________________ (not include) fruit and vegetables in your diet, you
_________________ (not have) the vitamins you need to stay healthy.

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5. If you ______________ (take) exercise twice a week, your general fitness level
________________ (improve).
6. If you ______________ (try) the frilled chicken, I think you __________________ (like) it,
but you insisted on steak, as usual.
7. If you ______________ (live) in France instead of England, you _______________ (get used
to) having a glass of wine with your meals.
8. If I ______________ (be) you, I ________________ (talk) to a doctor before going on a diet.
9. If you ______________ (go out) with us last night, it _______________ (you cheer up) a bit.
10. If I _________________ (drink) enough water, I _______________ (not have) such a bad
headache yesterday.
N. Rewrite the following sentences without altering their meaning.
1. If you aren’t on a diet, try the cheesecake. (unless)
-________________________________________________________________________
2. Danny wants to lose some weight, but he doesn’t have any will power. (if)
-________________________________________________________________________
3. Sue didn’t mention the tennis game so I didn’t turn up to watch. (if)
-________________________________________________________________________
4. In my opinion, you should drink low-fat milk. (if)
-________________________________________________________________________
5. You should have a medical check-up when starting a diet. (if)
-________________________________________________________________________
6. I didn’t buy any vegetables so I couldn’t make a salad. (if)
-________________________________________________________________________
7. Paul won’t swim in the pool because there is no lifeguard. (if)
-________________________________________________________________________
8. Peter gets angry with people who don’t take him seriously. (unless)
-________________________________________________________________________

O. Complete the following sentences using your own words.

1. If Helen _______________________________________________, we will go and visit her.
2. If you were a celebrity, where __________________________________________________.
3. Unless you take exercise, _____________________________________________________.
4. The doctor would have helped him if she ________________________________________ .
5. Would you give up fast food if _________________________________________________.
6. I __________________________________________________________ if I won the lottery.
7. If you had made a healthy holiday, ______________________________________________.
8. I would have met David Bisbal if _______________________________________________.
9. If she were Chenoa, __________________________________________________________.

P. Make up six conditionals, two of each kind, OK? Try to be quite coherent and original!
1. __________________________________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________________________________
3. __________________________________________________________________________
4. __________________________________________________________________________
5. __________________________________________________________________________
6. __________________________________________________________________________

Now, you have already learnt the Conditionals, please, use them in
your compositions !