[Grammar] If I won the lottery, I could...

[NAL123]

Consider this sentence of mine:

1) If I won the lottery, I could buy a 20-room mansion.

Does sentence 1) imply:

I can't buy a 20-room mansion, because I won't win the lottery.

 

[PeterCW]

No.

It only implies that winning the lottery would enable you to buy a mansion. There is nothing in the sentence that states that a lottery win is your only possible source of money.

 

[NAL123]

No.

It only implies that winning the lottery would enable you to buy a mansion. There is nothing in the sentence that states that a lottery win is your only possible source of money.

Is this sentence possible?

1) If I won the lottery, I might buy a 20-room mansion.

 

[GoesStation]

Is this sentence possible?

1) If I won the lottery, I might buy a 20-room mansion.

Yes.

 

[emsr2d2]

Consider this sentence of mine:

1) If I won the lottery, I could buy a 20-room mansion.

Does sentence 1) imply:

I can't buy a 20-room mansion, because I won't win the lottery.

No, for the reasons PeterCW gave in post 2. It does, however, imply that you currently do not have enough money to buy a 20-room mansion (if you did, you probably would have bought one by now). We use the conditional when we are simply considering something as a possible happening, and that's when we use the simple past form in the "If" clause. It refers to any and all unspecified dates in the future.

If I won ... I would ...

When we're really considering the possibility of something happening, we change the form to:

If I win ... I will ...

There, it's likely to be used with some kind of time marker, such as:

If I win the lottery next week, I will buy you a plane.

 

[NAL123]

Yes.

I'm a bit confused about "might" in conditional sentences:

I might go to the beach if the sun was shining.

I might go with you to the market if I wasn't ill.

I might do better if I had a different teacher.

Are they all correct?

 

[NAL123]

I take it that you realise that might sentences do not mean the same as would sentences.

I think "could" sentences are much more similar to "would" sentences. Am I right?

I could go to the beach if the sun were shining.

I could go with you to the market if I wasn't ill.

I could do better if I had a different teacher.

 

[NAL123]

3. I could go to the beach if the sun were shining

In the hypothetical/counterfactual situation of the sun shining:

3a = #2,
3b = my ability to go to the beach is presented as a possibility

Of 3a) and 3b), I think 3b) would be normally understood if sentence 3) were given. Am I right?

 

[NAL123]

It would depend on the context.

Last question:

In post #9, the 3a) interpretation doesn't have any "ability" meaning at all. Is this correct?