If I have a chance / I had a chance PART 2

[optimistic pessimist]

Hi all,
[FONT=-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, segoe ui, Roboto, helvetica neue, Arial, noto sans, sans-serif, apple color emoji, segoe ui emoji, segoe ui symbol, noto color emoji]I asked the following question in my last thread, but it has already been closed because the discussion shifted to something irrelevant to my original question. That's why I started a new thread. [/FONT]

When I write a passage about a foreign country I want to live in, which do you think is better as the first sentence?

1. If I had a chance to live in a foreign country, I would like to live in Britain.
2. If I have a chance to live in a foreign country, I want to live in Britain.

Let me ask more specifically. I understand that #1 is idle speculation and #2 suggests you think it might actually happen.
But if it is the subject of a writing test (e.g. Write about a country you want to live in within 100 words), which form would you choose?

OP

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hi all,
I asked the following question in my last thread, but it has already been closed because the discussion shifted to something irrelevant to my original question.

Sorry about that. My culpa!

That's why I started a new thread.

When I write a passage about a foreign country I want to live in, which do you think is better as the first sentence?

1. If I had a chance to live in a foreign country, I would like to live in Britain.
2. If I have a chance to live in a foreign country, I want to live in Britain.

As I said in your first post: Since you want to live there and it seems to be possible, use 2.

Let me ask more specifically. I understand that #1 is idle speculation and #2 suggests you think it might actually happen.
But if it is the subject of a writing test (e.g. Write about a country you want to live in within 100 words), which form would you choose?

As I said above and in your first post, use 2.

OP

Now you know.

 

[jutfrank]

1. If I had a chance to live in a foreign country, I would like to live in Britain.
2. If I have a chance to live in a foreign country, I want to live in Britain.

The first thing I notice is that there are two significant differences between your sentences, which makes it unnecessarily complicated. Remember that want and would like should be treated as having quite distinct uses. However, I think we should leave that aside for now and focus first on the difference between had and have.

Charlie Bernstein's question about whether you think it might actually happen is what you must answer first of all. If you think that the chance to live in Britain is something that is only imaginary and which will not happen, use had (second conditional) but if you think that the chance to live in Britain is a real possibility for you in the future, use have (first conditional).

Which one is it?