VIP Class Notes (Nemo)

Vocabulary

chitchat (n): informal conversation about unimportant matters

infinitive (n):the basic form of a verb that usually follows “to”
（动词）原形，不定式
E.g.: In the sentences “I had to go” and “I must go”, “go” is an infinitive.
在句子 I had to go 和 I must go 中，go 为不定式。
E.g.: “Go” is the infinitive form.
go 是动词原形。

conditional –(relating to) a sentence, often starting with “if” or “unless”, in which one half expresses something which depends on the other half
条件句的
E.g.: a conditional clause
条件从句
E.g.: “If I won a lot of money, I’d travel the world” is an example of a conditional (sentence).
If I won a lot of money, I’d go traveling 是条件句的一个例子。

主句
A main clause is a clause that can stand alone as a complete sentence.
E.g.: If I find her address, I’ll send her an invitation.(main clause)

Grammar

Conditional Sentence Type 1
→ It is possible and also very likely that the condition will be fulfilled.

Form: if + Simple Present, will-Future

Example: If I find her address, I’ll send her an invitation.

*The main clause can also be at the beginning of the sentence. In this case, don’t use a comma.
Example: I will send her an invitation if I find her address.

Conditional Sentence Type 2 Second conditional = imaginary situation now or in the future.
→ It is possible but very unlikely, that the condition will be fulfilled.

Form: if + Simple Past, would + Infinitive

Example: If I found her address, I would send her an invitation.

‘If Anna was (simple past) here, she would know( would+infinitive) what to do.’ (but she is not here at the moment, so she cannot help) Here we are talking about the present and imagining a situation that is different from reality.

‘If I lost(simple past) my job tomorrow, I would move( would+infinitive) to London.’ Here we are talking about a possible event in the future, but by using the second conditional we make it clear that we don’t really think it will happen.

Conditional Sentence Type 3 Third conditional = imaginary situation in the past.
→ It is impossible that the condition will be fulfilled because it refers to the past. It is used to imagine how a situation in the past could have been different.

Form: if + Past Perfect (had+verb+ed or the third column), would + have + Past Participle

Example: If I had found(past perfect) her address, I would have sent(would+have+past participle) her an invitation.
‘If he had not gone to the casino, he would not have lost all his money.’

The third conditional is used to imagine how a situation in the past could have been different.
‘If he had not gone to the casino, he would not have lost all his money.’ (In reality he went to the casino and lost all his money) If what actually happened was positive we use negative to imagine a different situation. If what actually happened was negative, we use positive.
‘If we had increased our prices, we would not have sold all the clothes.’ (In reality we didn’t increase our prices, so we sold all the clothes)