Exercise 17 Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense forms

1. If you (not buy) coffee, we’ll drink tea. 2. If he is free tomorrow, he certainly (come) to our party. 3. My brother would not have missed so many lessons if he (not hurt) his leg. 4. If you spoke English every day, you (improve) your language skills. 5. If you get a ‘five’, your mother (be) happy. 6. If she (return) earlier, she would have been able to see him before he left. 7. If these shoes were not too big for me, I (buy) them. 8. If you (ring) me up, I’ll tell you a secret. 9. If I (be) a poet, I would write only love poems. 10. If he (not pass) his examination, he will not get a scholarship. 12. If I were a famous singer, I (get) a lot of flowers every day.

Exercise 18 Write sentence chains with if to show how things could have been different.

Model: If he hadn’t worked so hard, he wouldn’t have passed his exams. If he hadn’t passed his exams, he wouldn’t have gone to university. If he hadn’t gone to university...

1. He worked hard → passed exams → went to university → studied languages → learnt Chinese → went to China → went climbing in Tibet → tried to climb Everest → disappeared in a snowstorm.

2. He bought a bicycle → went for a ride in the country → fell off → woke up in hospital → met a beautiful nurse → wrote a bestselling novel about her → got rich → marries the beautiful nurse and had three charming children → lived happily ever after.

3. Mary’s mother went out that evening → Mary cooked for herself → got interested in cooking → opened a very successful restaurant → had Prime Minister as customer → PM ordered mussels* → mussels poisoned PM → PM died → Mary went to prison for life.

^* mussels – мідії