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Lesson planB265 minsNew. New: checked automatically for level, grammar, facts and originality; a teacher's review is still to come. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
What If? Mixed conditionals
Students practise mixed conditionals to talk about life choices and their results today, then write about a turning point in a life.
Mixed conditionals · Life choices · Work
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Plan at a glance
Aims
- Use mixed conditionals accurately
- Learn and use 12 words and phrases in one set: Big life choices and living abroad
- Read for detail: the job she turned down
- Writing task: a turning point
Stages · 65 min
- 5 minLead-in: Pairs talk about life choices and share ideas with the class.
- 10 minVocabulary: Ex. 1
- 5 minLanguage focus: Go through the grammar notes together and check understanding.
- 10 minControlled practice: Ex. 2–3
- 5 minAccuracy practice: Ex. 4
- 15 minReading: Ex. 5
- 15 minWriting: Ex. 6
Printables
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Download all (ZIP, 4 PDFs)Grammar notes
Past condition → present result
- If + past perfect, would + infinitive: If I had taken that job, I would live in Berlin now.
- The past was different, so the present would be different: If she hadn't moved to Spain, she wouldn't speak Spanish so well.
Present condition → past result
- If + past simple, would have + past participle: If I weren't so shy, I would have spoken to him at the party.
- This is about a general quality or situation (I am shy) that changed a past event.
Watch out
- Don't use would in the if-clause: If I had studied (not If I would have studied).
- Compare the third conditional (past → past): If I had seen the advert, I would have applied.
- With be, we often use were for all persons: If I were more confident… (was is also common in speech).
Study tips
- Think of one big decision you made. Write two sentences about it: one about the past (would have) and one about now (would + infinitive).
- Look at the time words: now, today and these days usually point to the present result.
Glossary
- Big life choices and living abroad12 items
Complete the exercises, then check your answers.
1
Life choices: vocabulary
Match each phrase with its meaning. There is one extra meaning.
Tap an item…
…then its match
2
Which kind of conditional?
Put each sentence in the correct group.
- a
If Tom were more organised, he wouldn't have missed the deadline.
- b
If we had bought that house, we would have a garden today.
- c
If I had studied medicine, I would be a doctor now.
- d
If I didn't love my job, I would have left years ago.
- e
If I weren't so shy, I would have spoken to him at the party.
- f
If you had told me, I would have helped.
- g
If they had left earlier, they wouldn't have missed the train.
- h
If she hadn't moved to Spain, she wouldn't speak Spanish so well.
- i
If I had seen the advert, I would have applied.
3
Complete the conditionals
Complete each sentence with the correct form of the verb in brackets.
- a
If I had accepted the job in Canada, I (live) in Toronto now.
- b
If Maria (not take) that risk ten years ago, she wouldn't have her own business today.
- c
If I (be) more confident, I would have asked for a pay rise last year.
- d
We (not be) so tired now if we had gone to bed earlier.
- e
If he spoke better English, he (get) the job he applied for last month.
- f
If they had settled down in the countryside, they (feel) much calmer these days.
- g
If you (not be) so homesick, you would have stayed abroad longer.
4
Key-word transformations
Complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first. Use the word given. Use between two and five words, including the word given.
- a
I didn't learn to drive, so I can't work as a delivery driver now.
HAD
If I to drive, I could work as a delivery driver now.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- b
She isn't fluent in German, so she didn't get the job in Munich.
WOULD
If she were fluent in German, she the job in Munich.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- c
We missed the last train, and that's why we're stuck here now.
WOULDN'T
If we hadn't missed the last train, we here now.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- d
He's very impatient, so he didn't wait for the results.
MORE
If he , he would have waited for the results.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- e
I took that risk, and that's why my life is so different now.
TAKEN
If I that risk, my life wouldn't be so different now.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
5
Read: the job she turned down
Read the text. Are the sentences true, false or not given?
Twelve years ago, Rosa Delgado was offered a job with an engineering company in Singapore. She was twenty-six, she had never lived abroad, and she was terrified. After a week of sleepless nights, she turned it down. "People often ask if I regret it," she says. "Honestly, it depends on the day. If I had gone, I would probably earn much more money now, and I'd be fluent in at least one more language. But I wouldn't have met my husband, and we wouldn't have our two children. So it's complicated." The real turning point came three years later. Rosa's company closed, and she decided to take a risk: she started a small design studio at her kitchen table. Today it employs fourteen people. "If I weren't so stubborn, I would have given up in the first year," she laughs. "We had no customers for months." Her advice for anyone facing a big decision? "Don't spend years asking 'what if'. Choose, and then make the most of whatever you've chosen."
- a
Rosa was excited about moving to Singapore.
- b
Rosa believes she wouldn't have her children if she had accepted the job.
- c
Rosa speaks three languages.
- d
Rosa started her business after her company closed.
- e
Rosa's studio was successful from the start.
- f
Rosa's husband works at her design studio.
- g
Rosa thinks people shouldn't keep wondering about the choices they didn't make.
6
Write: a turning point
Write about a decision.
Write about a turning point in your life or in the life of someone you know (120–150 words). What was the decision? How would life be different now if it had gone the other way? Did a part of your character affect what happened? Use at least three mixed conditionals. Word box: turning point · settle down · take a risk · opportunity · fluent · homesick · make the most of · turn down Example: If I hadn't turned down that place at university, I would probably be a lawyer now.
Suggested minimum: 120 words
0 words · aim for at least 120
Spotted a mistake in this lesson?· tell us the exercise and item
Revise with a game
This lesson's own words and questions. Play on your own, or in teams on the classroom screen.
- Step UpAnswer the lesson's questions to climb to the top.
- Pair UpMatch the lesson's words to their meanings against the clock.
- SnapA word and a meaning: do they go together? Answer fast.
- Quiz BoardTeams choose questions worth 100 to 500 points.
- Retro arcadeWord Invaders, Word Snake, Word Maze and Word Crossing: classic arcade games with the lesson's words.
Glossary
The 12 words and phrases this lesson teaches, in one set.
Big life choices and living abroad
- turning point
- a time when an important change happens in your life
- decision
- a choice that you make after thinking
- opportunity
- a chance to do something good or useful
- chance
- an opportunity to do something
- take a risk
- to do something that might go wrong
- turn down
- to say no to something you are offered
- make the most of
- to use a good situation as well as you can
- regret
- to feel sorry about something you did or didn't do
- abroad
- in or to another country
- settle down
- to start living a calmer life in one place, often with a partner
- fluent
- able to speak a language easily and well
- homesick
- sad because you are away from home and you miss it
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