LANGUAGE REFERENCE
148
12
GRAMMAR
G1
THIRD CONDITIONAL
Form the third conditional in the following way:
if
-clause
+ main clause
if
+ past perfect
would/could/might
+
have
+
past participle
If Sarah
had asked
me, I
would have helped
her.
Use the third conditional to talk about unreal
situations in the past, i.e. situations that are contrary
to the facts.
If he
hadn’t left
so quickly, we
could have
caught
him.
(He left quickly, we didn’t catch him.)
If she
’d been
a little nicer, I
might have gone
to her
house.
(She wasn’t nice, I didn’t go to the house.)
We often use the third conditional to:
•
talk about regrets.
If I
’d worked
harder, I
might have got
better results.
•
criticise.
If you
’d listened
to me, you
wouldn’t have got
into
trouble.
•
make excuses.
Sorry, but if the plane
had left
on time, I
wouldn’t
have been
so late!
As with the first and second conditional, we can put
the main clause first.
G2
MODALS (PAST DEDUCTION)
Use modal perfects to make guesses (deductions)
about things in the past. The modal perfect is formed
with a modal verb
(
e.g.
must
,
can
,
should) + have +
past participle
.
They
must have climbed
up the tree and got stuck.
They
should have checked
the car before they left.
Use
should have
to say something was a good idea,
but it didn’t happen.
To finish the job more quickly they
should have
asked
more people to help.
Use
shouldn’t have
to say something wasn’t a good
idea, but it happened.
He
shouldn’t have driven
the car so quickly.
Use
might have
to say that it is possible, but not
certain, that something happened.
He
might have decided
to ask his parents for help.
Use
must have
to say it is logically certain that
something happened.
There’s a broken window at the back so the tree
must have fallen
in there.
Use
couldn’t have
to say that it is not possible that
something happened.
Our teacher
couldn’t have given
us another test but
she did!
Ê
page 138 for present deduction.
KEY LANGUAGE
KL
REACHING A DECISION
The evidence clearly shows …
I am sure that you will find …
The facts of the case are clear.
I’m not certain because …
There should be no doubt in your minds that …
I am confident that …
You can look at it in two ways.
Bystanders confirm that …
I believe that because …
It’s clear to me that …
It seems to me that …
I’ve made up my mind.
It’s obvious to me that …
VOCABULARY
V1
MISTAKES
TRANSPORT
aircraft, balloon(s), parachute, train, hovercraft, car,
bicycle
PLACES
backyard, Serbia, school, office, garden, garage,
station
PEOPLE
pilots, driver, victim, accomplice, bystander, witness,
police
VERB
rise, fall, float, jump, crash, descend, ascend
V2
WORD COMBINATIONS
find fault, blind spot, faulty information, internal
processing, noticeable problems
