Hi, I was looking at today's YAHOO! NEWS titled "Pressure intensifies for Ill. governor to resign" by Deanna Bellandi and Christopher Wills and have some grammatical questions on it.
Blagojevich's approval rating dropped to an all-time low of 8 percent, and friends and foes alike feared if they don't act swiftly to get rid of him, he might commit some kind of political mischief.
Q1: The part "if they don't act swiftly to get rid of him, he might commit some kind of political mischief." -- Is this first conditional that is similar to "if they do this, I will/may/can/should do this" in pattern?
At the same time, Illinois lawmakers were organizing impeachment efforts, and the state attorney general said that if the governor were not impeached, she would seek a court order finding him unfit to serve.
Q2: The part "if the governor were not impeached, she would seek a court order finding him unfit to serve." -- Is this a second conditional? If it is, is it OK to use a second conditional as sort of reported speech of what someone might have said? I think newspapers use a present tense to report back what someone said to sort of impart a feeling of presence (if I described what I had to say correctly).
Q3:This is not related to the above article but a question on its own.
Could I put a future time word like "tomorrow" or "next year" in a second conditional pattern to say something about the future event or action?
If I had money tomorrowi, I would buy that bouquet of flower I am seeing right now.
I think we can put the time word like "tomorrow" or "next year" in the main clause to make it a second conditional that denotes future events or actions.
If I had money, I would buy that bouquet of flowers I am seeing right now tomorrow.
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