Conditionals

[Unregistered]

Dear Teachers,
Could someone explain to me as to when one should use real & unreal situation e.g. "if you go to any of the malls in xxx now, you would see that most of the patrons are foreigners and that shows blah...blah..."
I couldn't find this type of mixture in any of the on-line english language websites.
Thank you.
Regards,
Jeeva

[Tdol]

http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary...ditionals.html

[MikeNewYork]

Dear Teachers,
Could someone explain to me as to when one should use real & unreal situation e.g. "if you go to any of the malls in xxx now, you would see that most of the patrons are foreigners and that shows blah...blah..."
I couldn't find this type of mixture in any of the on-line english language websites.
Thank you.
Regards,
Jeeva

Your sentence is a mixed conditional, but it isn't one I would accept. I prefer "go...will" or "went...would" to avoid mixing real and unreal.

[RonBee]

I would say:

If you go to any of the malls in ---- you will see that most of the patrons are foreigners.

What do you think?

(Answers will be posted in the forum, not e-mailed. If you register, you can be notified when an answer is posted.)

~R

[jeeva]

Hi,

Everybody...I'm Jeeva, maybe the example that I gave earlier doesn't convey the right message, but I've seen this type mixture.

I wonder if it's okay to mix real & unreal situation?

Please comment...thank you.

Regards,
Jeeva

[Tdol]

Generally speaking, no, but there are a few very mixed conditional forms:
If he is such a good driver, he shouldn't have crashed like that.

[jeeva]

Hi,

Here's another doubt I've regarding conditionals (unreal #2):

"If you picked-up any operational management book, you would see that these companies are used as a model"

Is it correct to use present tense (i.e., is used) or should I use past/past perfect, if I'm talking about something that is still true?

Please comment, thank you.

Regards,
Jeeva

[Tdol]

Not in your example- it would be either past/would or present/will, depending on the likelihood of their picking up the book. The more likely they are to pick it up, the more we would use the present/will.

[jeeva]

Hi,

If less likely then it should sound:

"If you picked-up any operational management book, you would see these companies were (instead of are) used as model"

Is that right?

Regards,
Jeeva

[Tdol]

The 'you would see' is the unlikely part, but the contents of the book are real, so it's fine to use the present there. I don't think using the past makes the picking-up any less likely, though it's fine. The likelihood of this sentence is dependent on the if clause, so you could change that to make it less likely:

If you were (by any chance) to pick up...
Were you (by any chance) to pick up...