Question

If I ________ (to have) one billion dollars I ________ (to donate) a half to charity. had/donated would have/would donate 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). As the test answers consist only of ‘had/donated’ and ‘would have/would donate’ variants, the test sentence ‘If I ________ (to have) one billion dollars I ________ (to donate) a half to charity.’ describes an unlikely situation. It means that ‘I don’t have one billion dollars, that is why I can’t donate a half to charity.’ The speaker is still thinking about the future possibility, but it is imaginary – I imagine that I could donate some money to charity, 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 2 (had/would donate). 1

Accepted Answer

2 had/would donate would have/donated conditionals

Task	If I ________ (to have) one billion dollars I ________ (to donate) a half to charity.
Answer	2
a	had/donated
b	had/would donate
c	would have/would donate
d	would have/donated
comment	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). As the test answers consist only of ‘had/donated’ and ‘would have/would donate’ variants, the test sentence ‘If I ________ (to have) one billion dollars I ________ (to donate) a half to charity.’ describes an unlikely situation. It means that ‘I don’t have one billion dollars, that is why I can’t donate a half to charity.’ The speaker is still thinking about the future possibility, but it is imaginary – I imagine that I could donate some money to charity, 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 2 (had/would donate).
topic	conditionals
level	1

I Donate Billion Half Imaginary Test Dollars Have/Would