2nd conditional
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The second conditional is used to talk about ‘unreal’ or impossible things.
The structure is usuall if + past simple and would / could / should / might + infinitive. It’s not important which clause comes first.
Ex:
If I won a lot of money I’d buy a big house in the country.
Where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world?
If you didn’t smoke so much you’d feel a lot better.
If I got a dog
I would like to have a dog because I think that they are really cool. However, I don’t think that my lifestyle is really suited to being a dog owner: I’m out for most of the day, I live in a flat and I don’t like picking up dog poo!
But if I had a dog, I would like to have a male. I could dress him up in a funny costume at Halloween. I would take cliched photos of him in sunglasses and then I could make his very own facebook page for him.
If I was a dog owner, I wouldn’t be able to have a lie in at the weekends because I would have to take him for walkies…and I really don’t like getting up early at the weekend! Also, I think my neighbours would be annoyed if my dog barked in the flat. If I bought a dog, it should definitely be a small one because my flat isn’t very big and small dogs only do small poos!!!
I think the negatives outweigh the positives, so I won’t get a dog for the forseeable future. If I were irresponsible though, I probably would get a funny, little dog.
So, to sum up, it’s unlikely that there will be a dog in my life anytime soon. As I was thinking about a hypothetical, unlikely situation, I used the 2nd conditional.
The second conditional is used to talk about ‘unreal’ or impossible things.
The structure is usuall if + past simple and would / could / should / might + infinitive. It’s not important which clause comes first.
Ex:
If I won a lot of money I’d buy a big house in the country.
Where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world?
If you didn’t smoke so much you’d feel a lot better.
If I got a dog
I would like to have a dog because I think that they are really cool. However, I don’t think that my lifestyle is really suited to being a dog owner: I’m out for most of the day, I live in a flat and I don’t like picking up dog poo!
But if I had a dog, I would like to have a male. I could dress him up in a funny costume at Halloween. I would take cliched photos of him in sunglasses and then I could make his very own facebook page for him.
If I was a dog owner, I wouldn’t be able to have a lie in at the weekends because I would have to take him for walkies…and I really don’t like getting up early at the weekend! Also, I think my neighbours would be annoyed if my dog barked in the flat. If I bought a dog, it should definitely be a small one because my flat isn’t very big and small dogs only do small poos!!!
I think the negatives outweigh the positives, so I won’t get a dog for the forseeable future. If I were irresponsible though, I probably would get a funny, little dog.
So, to sum up, it’s unlikely that there will be a dog in my life anytime soon. As I was thinking about a hypothetical, unlikely situation, I used the 2nd conditional.