Question

If you ___________ (to speak) louder I _________ (to hear) her address well. spoke/would hear would speak/would hear Conditionals are sentences with two clauses – an ‘if clause’ and a main clause. The two parts can be in any order. When the ‘would part’ is second, you need a comma.The second conditional is used to talk about unreal, unlikely, impossible or imaginary things, events or situations. The structure is usually if + past simple (the hypothetical or unlikely part) and would/could/might + infinitive (the possible result of the imaginary situation): If I had lots of money, I would travel all around the world.; If I won the lottery, I would buy a car. We are thinking about a particular condition in the future, and the result of this condition. But there is not a real possibility that this condition will happen. Therefore, we use the Second conditional structure for unreal possibility.As the test answers consist only of ‘spoke/heard’ and ‘would speak/would hear’ variants, the test sentence ‘If you ___________ (to speak) louder I _________ (to hear) her address well.’ describes an unlikely situation. It means that ‘You haven’t spoken louder, that is why I haven’t heard her address well.’. The speaker is still thinking about the future possibility, but it is imaginary – I imagine that you could speak louder, but it is unlikely. In this case the question between the first and the second conditional is often a question of the speaker’s attitude to the situation.As for the test ANSWER, we are to choose ANSWER 1 (spoke/would hear). 1

Accepted Answer

1 would speak/heard spoke/heard conditionals

Task	If you ___________ (to speak) louder I _________ (to hear) her address well.
Answer	1
a	spoke/would hear
b	would speak/heard
c	would speak/would hear
d	spoke/heard
comment	Conditionals are sentences with two clauses – an ‘if clause’ and a main clause. The two parts can be in any order. When the ‘would part’ is second, you need a comma.The second conditional is used to talk about unreal, unlikely, impossible or imaginary things, events or situations. The structure is usually if + past simple (the hypothetical or unlikely part) and would/could/might + infinitive (the possible result of the imaginary situation): If I had lots of money, I would travel all around the world.; If I won the lottery, I would buy a car. We are thinking about a particular condition in the future, and the result of this condition. But there is not a real possibility that this condition will happen. Therefore, we use the Second conditional structure for unreal possibility.As the test answers consist only of ‘spoke/heard’ and ‘would speak/would hear’ variants, the test sentence ‘If you ___________ (to speak) louder I _________ (to hear) her address well.’ describes an unlikely situation. It means that ‘You haven’t spoken louder, that is why I haven’t heard her address well.’. The speaker is still thinking about the future possibility, but it is imaginary – I imagine that you could speak louder, but it is unlikely. In this case the question between the first and the second conditional is often a question of the speaker’s attitude to the situation.As for the test ANSWER, we are to choose ANSWER 1 (spoke/would hear).
topic	conditionals
level	1

I Address Conditional Imaginary Test Speak Louder Hear