If I were rich, _____ a lot.
- (a)I'll travel
- (b)I can travel
- (c)I would travel
- (d)I travelled
Correct — C, I would travel. The 'if' half uses 'were' rather than 'am', which marks the situation as imagined rather than real, and English answers that past-form 'if' clause with 'would' plus the base verb in the other half. The finished sentence is 'If I were rich, I would travel a lot.'
- (a)I'll travel — 'Will' belongs with a real and likely situation expressed in the present tense, as in 'If I am rich one day, I'll travel a lot', so it clashes with the imagined 'were'.
- (b)I can travel — 'Can' states a present ability and so treats the imagined wealth as a fact; the unreal pattern needs 'could' rather than 'can'.
- (d)I travelled — A plain past tense turns the second half into a statement about what actually happened, which cannot follow an imagined 'if I were'.
An item on the unreal 'if' pattern, in which 'if' plus a past form is answered by 'would' plus the base verb.
The most useful signal is the word 'were' with the singular subject 'I'. 'If I were' is not really a past tense at all; it is the form English keeps for situations contrary to fact, and it always calls for 'would', 'could' or 'might' in the other half of the sentence. The second conditional pairs those two halves, and mixing 'were' with 'will' is the commonest error in this item type.
- 'Were' is used with I, he, she and it in this pattern, which is why 'If I were you' is standard and 'If I was you' is not.
- 'Could' and 'might' can replace 'would' when ability or possibility rather than intention is meant.
- Answering an imagined 'if I were' with 'will' or 'can'.
Asked as a fill-in-the-blank or sentence-improvement item in which the 'if' half is printed and the other half must be matched to it.
If I were a millionaire, I <u>would have helped</u> the poor.
- (a) am capable of helping
- (b) could have helped
- (c) would help
- (d) NO IMPROVEMENT
Answer(c) would help
The same pattern approached from the other side. There the 'if' half is fixed and the printed main clause is wrong; here the main clause is the blank. Both turn on 'If I were' calling for 'would' plus the base verb.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the form that fits — If she _____ the truth, she would tell us at once.
- (a)knows
- (b)knew
- (c)will know
- (d)has known
Answer(b) knew — the 'would' in the other half marks the situation as imagined, so the 'if' half takes the past form.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the form that fits — If I were you, I _____ that offer.
- (a)will accept
- (b)accepted
- (c)would accept
- (d)accept
Answer(c) would accept — 'If I were' is answered by 'would' plus the base verb.