Will/would be better

[Kontol]

My mother is now cooking meat in the kitchen. I want to give her my suggestion on the food. In this context, which should I use? Are they both OK?

1.“Mom, it would be better if you added some sugar to the meat."

2.“Mom, it will be better if you add some sugar to the meat.”

 

[5jj]

Both are grammatatical.

 

[jutfrank]

Use the second one, as it's a real conditional. This is a real, immediate situation and you really want her to add sugar.

 

[Kontol]

Use the second one, as it's a real conditional. This is a real, immediate situation and you really want her to add sugar.

Then, in what situation would I use the first one?

 

[jutfrank]

Then, in what situation would I use the first one?

When it's less real, and when you want to speak hypothetically.

 

[Kontol]

Use the second one, as it's a real conditional. This is a real, immediate situation and you really want her to add sugar.

But why doesn't the following sentence say "It will be a surprise if the game stays at 2-1?" As you have explained, this is a real situation. The game is still ongoing.

46' The game is back underway at Old Trafford!
It would be a surprise if the game stayed at 2-1, with both sides desperate for the three points.

 

[jutfrank]

Because the speaker is thinking about it staying at 2-1 as just a remote possibility. Another way of saying that is that the possibilty of it staying at 2-1 is thought of primarily as an unreal situation.

To sum up: If a speaker is thinking of a possible situation as real and existing in a real future of our shared history, then he will use a first conditional sentence. If the speaker is thinking of a situation as existing first and foremost in the world of his imagination, as a theoretical or hypothetical situation, then he will use a second conditional. These hypotheticals are in a sense one step removed (or 'distanced') in possibility from the real world we live in.