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Thread: Zero, first or second conditional?

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    Katharsis is offline Newbie
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    Question Zero, first or second conditional?

    Hi. I am hoping to get answers for the next problem of mine;
    we had a test today at school and one of the tasks was also a task where you had to fill the gaps with suitable conditionals (0, 1. and 2.).
    I had some problems with the following two examples:
    If the cat (hide)_______ in the tree, the dog ________ (not find) it.
    Is at this particular example possible to use only first or also zero conditional?
    And the next one:
    It's so noisy in here. Even if the students ________ (listen) carefully, they _______ (not hear) the woodpecker.
    Second or first conditional with this one?

    Thanks in advance for answering.

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    5jj
    5jj is online now Moderator
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    Default Re: Zero, first or second conditional?

    Welcome to the forum, Katharsis.
    Quote Originally Posted by Katharsis View Post
    If the cat (hide)_______ in the tree, the dog ________ (not find) it.
    Moderately natural possibilities are:

    If the cat hides in the trees, the dog can't find it. (general time)
    If the cat hides in the tree, the dog won't (be able to) find it. [future possibility]
    If the cat hid in the tree, the dog wouldn't (be able to) find it.
    [future hypothetical]
    If the cat had hidden in the tree, the dog wouldn't have found (/wouldn't have been able to find) it. (past counterfactual)

    It is possible to say the following, but pretty unlikely that we we would:

    If the cat hides in the trees, the dog doesn't find it. [general time]
    It's so noisy in here. Even if the students ________ (listen) carefully, they _______ (not hear) the woodpecker.
    Second or first conditional with this one?
    Moderately natural possibilities are:

    Even if the students listened/were listening carefully, they wouldn't (be able to) hear the woodpecker.
    Even if the students had listened/been listening carefully, they wouldnt have heard/wouldn't have been able to hear the woodpecker.
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