Conditonal

Question

1. If I go to the moon, I will look for the existence of any living beings.

2. f I went to the moon, I would look for th existence of any living beings.

3. f I had went to the moon, I would have looked for the existence of any living beings.

4. If I have millions of dolllars, I will distribute it among the poor.

5. If I had millions of dolllars, I would distribute it among the poor.

6. If I had had millions of dolllars, I would have distributed it among the poor.

I just want to know whether all my conditional sentences are fine.

Maverick88 · Accepted Answer

The sentences seem to be fine<img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

CalifJim · Answer

All OK except "had went", which should be "had gone".

Andrei · Answer

Sometimes you drop the article when writing the word 'moon' and 'earth'.

Here I wrote 'If I go to the moon ....................

Is it necessary to write 'the moon' ? What is the rule governing the article when writing moon or earth?

CalifJim · Answer

Yes, as far as I know, it's always "the moon" when referring to the moon that revolves around the earth. Can you give an example of "moon" without an article? I'm not familiar with any such usage.

When referring to our planet by using its name, you can use "Earth": Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, etc. "Earth is the third planet from the sun."
If you mean the non-countable "soil" or "land", you can use "earth": "buried in earth".
Otherwise, it's always "the earth".

Others may have a more complete list of possibilities.
I'm not aware of any "rule" that must be used.

Andrei · Answer

I would agree with CalifJim about his views. Look at the following sentences, you must have the article to make them sensible sentences, as far as I can see.

1.On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to step onto the surface of the Moon.

2.The Moon is 384,403 kilometers (238,857 miles) distant from the Earth.

3.The Moon makes a complete orbit about once a month.

4.The phases of the moon are caused by the relative positions of the earth, sun, and moon. The moon goes around the earth, on average, in 27 days 7 hours 43 minutes.

Andrei · Answer

Look at my 6th sentence. I just want to know when to use this 3rd conditional sentnece.

The fourth sentence deals with the today's circumstances.

The fifth sentence deals with the yesterday's circumstances. It can either be yesterday or 6 months ago. It just deals with the past.

What are the conditions to use the 6th sentence or in other words when do you use the third conditional?

Taiwandave · Answer

1. If I go to the moon, I will look for the existence of any living beings.
CORRECT (Conditional Type 1)

2. If I went to the moon, I would look for the existence of any living beings.
CORRECT (Conditional Type 2)

3. If I had went to the moon, I would have looked for the existence of any living beings.
NO, SHOULD BE: If I had GONE to the moon, I would have looked for the existence of any living beings. (Conditional Type 3)

4. If I have millions of dollars, I will distribute it among the poor.
No, use the second conditional (sentence 5) for unreal or imaginary situations in the present. If in the sentence you are referring to a possible future event, use a different verb, for example:
If I make millions of dollars, I will distribute it among the poor.

5. If I had millions of dollars, I would distribute it among the poor.
CORRECT (Conditional Type 2)

6. If I had had millions of dollars, I would have distributed it among the poor.
CORRECT (Conditional Type 3)

To answer your question, the third conditional is used to refer to unreal situations in the past. Sentence 6 describes something that would have been done if a certain condition had been met (in this case, having millions of dollars), but it didn't happen, because the condition was never met. The third conditional describes what might have happened, but didn't happen. For example:

If he had studied, he would have passed the test. But he didn't study, so he failed.

By the way, to avoid the awkward looking "had had", use a contraction for the first had:

If I'd had millions of dollars, I would have distributed it among the poor.

Andrei · Answer

Taiwandave, thanks for the lengthy reply.

If I had millions of dollars, I would distribute it among the poor.

So the above doesn't sound you an unreal stiutaion in the past. Simply it means that I didn't have millions of dollars two or three years ago. You consider this is a real situation. I would agree with you.

If I had had millions of dollars, I would have distributed it among the poor.
The above is purely my imagination like building castles in the sky.

However, I have a different point to make here.

10) If I won millions of dollars from a lottery, I would distribute it among the poor.
I have learnt the above construction visualizes an imaginary event. The reason that we don't say 'If I win millions of dollars from a lottery, I would ....... is that chances are very slim and it falls to the imaginary category.

So the follwoing should work too.

11) If I had won milliions of dollars from a lottery, I would have distributed it among the poor.

How do you distinguish the difference in the meaning between sentences (10) and (11) ?

CalifJim · Answer

To express a remote possibility for the present or future:

If I won the lottery (today / in the future) -- after all, it IS a remote possibility -- maybe I'll win, THEN I would distribute it (as soon as I won it or soon after) to the poor.

To express a counterfactual, something that was a possibility in the past, but did not happen:

If I had won the lottery (in the past) -- it was a possibility, but it did NOT happen (I did not win the lottery), I would have distributed it (as soon as I had won it -- but I didn't win it) to the poor. Of course I could not distribute it because I did not win it.

CJ

Andrei · Answer

Califjim

You are very clever at English. I am glad that we have a man of your calibre around ús. I reflected on this many times before posting here. The point you made didn't cross my mind. I respect to your prowess in English.

Conditonal

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