What if's

Question

Are these correct? What do they mean?

1. What if there is a fire, what would you do? (I hear a lot of people that use 'is' with 'would', is that correct? If it is correct, is it a mixed conditional?)
2. What if there is a fire, what will you do?
3. What if there is a fire, what are you going to do? (What is the difference between this one and #2?)

4. What if there was a fire, what would you do? (So this is conditional #3?)

Thanks.

MrPedantic · Accepted Answer

0 Hello Jack 02br
02br
001. What if there is a fire, what would you do? (I hear a lot of people that use 'is' with 'would', is that correct? If it is correct, is it a mixed conditional?) 02br
02br
00Yes, mixed: somewhere between — 02br
02br
00a) What if there's a fire - what'll you do? (immediate: you want to convey the fact that you think it's a real possibility.) 02br
02br
00b) What if there were a fire - what would you do? (remote: you want to discuss the possibility of the fire, but you don't want to make it sound too immediate - perhaps you don't want to frighten the other person; perhaps you really don't believe there's much likelihood of a fire). 02br
02br
00So your mixed version has an odd effect: in the IF clause, the speaker presents the fire as an immediate possibility; in the main clause, he treats it as remote. (Perhaps he was talking to an old lady, and saw the look of alarm on her face as he said 'what if there's a fire?'. So he changed to 'would' - to make it less frightening...) 02br
02br
002. What if there is a fire, what will you do? 02br
00— as above. 02br
02br
003. What if there is a fire, what are you going to do? 02br
00— this makes the fire seem even more immediate. 'What are you going to do?' is what you say when something really does have to be done. 02br
02br
004. What if there was a fire, what would you do? (So this is conditional #3?) 02br
00This is a version of a), above: 'what if there were a fire...' So it's a type 2 conditional. 02br
02br
00'Was' is often used by speakers instead of the subjunctive 'were', esp. in BrE. 02br
02br
00MrP 0-

What if's

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions