Conditionals and pen-pushers
Post categories: Teacher blog
| 13:30 UK time, Thursday, 30 June 2011
Dear Zsuzsi
Thanks so much for your interesting blog article. You've covered so much ground over your four weeks, I feel like I know Hungary much better than before!
I'm particularly intrigued by what you say about Hungarians being very good at science and maths and that Hungary has produced many notable inventors. Why do you think that is?
Once upon a time, you might have said the same about English people. We had many famous engineers like Brunel and George Stephenson. But nowadays I think we are a nation of pen-pushers! Many people in my city, London, are involved in international business, consultancy and accounting. I guess we have a big advantage in being able to speak an international language.
Britain: a nation of pen-pushers?
I'm going to say goodbye to Zsuzsi today because this is my last blog for now. I am sure I will be back in the future! Bye to all my readers too; it's been great hearing your thoughts.
LANGUAGE
I arrived really late at the place of fete with my boyfriend, and we didn't enter the museums even if it was possible, we enjoyed rather the atmosphere of the Night and we took a tour in the centre of city walking on the streets.
This is tricky stuff. I think that what you want here is something we teachers call the third conditional:
If (past perfect verb) then (modal + past participle)
So in your sentence, you could say:
Even if the museums had been open, we wouldn't have entered them.
But you put the result first, so it should look like this:
I arrived really late at the fete with my boyfriend, but we wouldn't have entered the museums even if it had been possible. Instead, we enjoyed the atmosphere of the night and took a walking tour of the city centre.
This is about as difficult as English grammar gets, so let's return to this point in this week's homework.
In my view, my country is not a rich one economically.
In my view is a great example of a stance marker: a word or phrase that indicates the speaker's attitude towards something. To find out about some other stance markers, watch this fun video.
LAST WEEK'S HOMEWORK
Well done to Les, Beatriz, Hind and Tereza - you all got these answers right! Beatriz, you're right that it is me that presents most of these programmes - the very same William! Can't you tell from the photo of me and my dad on this page?
Hind, well done for doing this even though you find the blogs difficult. I'm sure your English will really improve if you keep pushing yourself.
1. He knows everything there is to know about stamps. He's a complete anorak!
2. I can't believe you're getting married! When's the big day?
3. I just bought a packet of crisps and when I opened them I saw they were half-empty! What a swizz!
4. Lots of my friends kiss each other when they say goodbye. I have to say I don't like it - I guess I'm just not very touchy-feely.
5. I'm almost ready - I'll just be two ticks / two shakes / a jiffy.
Remember that you can find out more about all these words by going to The English We Speak homepage.
HOMEWORK
OK, I did say I would return to the difficult terrain of the third conditional. Can you fill in the gaps in the following sentences, using one of the words in brackets? You might find this page useful:
1. If I _______ to Budapest, I would have seen the Danube. (have gone / had gone / go / went)
2. I _______ visited Hungary years ago if I'd known it was so fascinating! (had / (nothing) / would / might have)
3. If only _______ him about the phone call, he wouldn't have wasted his morning trying to speak to the supplier. (I have told / I told / I had told / I tell)
4. _______ I had applied for a ticket, I probably wouldn't have got one. There was so much demand! (Only if / Even if / If only / Whether)
5. _______ got up earlier I might have got to my meeting on time. (Had I, I had, If I, Have I)
USEFUL VOCABULARY
- to cover so much ground - to discuss or review many topics, e.g. It was a very long meeting but we covered a lot of ground.
- intrigued - curious, interested
- notable - important, well-known
- Once upon a time - In the past, maybe a long time ago. Many children's stories begin with this line, e.g. Once upon a time in a land far away, there lived an unhappy princess. (Incidentally, children's stories often end with this line: They lived happily ever after.)
- pen-pusher - someone who works in an office, doing paperwork. The phrase is slightly derogatory, but humorous
- tricky - difficult
- to push oneself - to force oneself to work hard and achieve a goal, e.g. You'll never get into Cambridge unless you really push yourself and study every day
- terrain - the landscape. Here I am using it figuratively, to mean a topic area. Third conditionals are difficult, like doing a walk where there are many obstacles and you can't see the path.
Comment number 1.
At 30th Jun 2011, kyntire wrote:Hello Will and everyone, this is my first time in this part of the blog and I'm delighted to be here; had I known such a sick teacher was leaving, I would have been more present :-). Anyway ... it's time to work now, isn't it ?
1. If I had gone to Budapest, I would have seen the Danube.
2. I would have visited Hungary years ago if I'd known it was so fascinating !
3. If only I had told him about the phone call, he wouldn't have wasted his morning trying to speake to the supplier.
4. Even if I had applied for a ticket, I probably wouldn't have got one. There was so much demand !
5. Had I got up earlier I might have got to the meeting on time.
Thank you very much Will and all the teachers here for the great deal of work you do ! Bye for now Will and hope to read you again soon.
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Comment number 2.
At 30th Jun 2011, Les wrote:Hello Will, kyntire and everybody!
It seems to me that the world in the past was more active and heroic. Nowadays, many of us have turned into pen-pushers. At least I’m one of them, although my ‘International Language’ :) is not perfect. I’m not sure whether I’m right or not, but as I can see it, it depends more on our personality.
Perfect English is a dream :), because there’s so much tricky stuff in it, including the conditionals. Well, here’s my homework.
1. If I had gone to Budapest, I would have seen the Danube.
2. I might have visited Hungary years ago if I'd known it was so fascinating!

3. If only I had told him about the phone call, he wouldn't have wasted his morning trying to speak to the supplier.
4. Even if I had applied for a ticket, I probably wouldn't have got one. There was so much demand!

5. Had I got up earlier I might have got to my meeting on time.
Will, thank you for your homework very much! I can't believe - I like doing homework :).
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Comment number 3.
At 1st Jul 2011, hind wrote:Hi will and everybody
thanks will; your words really lift my spirits and push me towards improving my english.
And for the hommework it seems to me that the subject is very interesting especially for me because i'v never learned it before.
And here my try
1- If had gone to Budapest, I would have seen the Danube.
2-I might have visited Hungary years ago if I'd known it was so fascinating!
3-If only i had told him about the phone call, he wouldn't have wasted his morning trying to speak to the supplier.
4-Even if I had applied for a ticket, I probably wouldn't have got one. There was so much demand!
5-Had i got up earlier I might have got to my meeting on time.
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Comment number 4.
At 3rd Jul 2011, Pary wrote:Hi Will , It was great to read your Blog and hope to see them in near future ! and here is my first ever reply to your home works :
1- had gone
2- might have
3- I had told
4- Even if
5- I had got up
have a nice Sunday
Pary from Iran
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Comment number 5.
At 4th Jul 2011, max wrote:Ok Will, I try to answer at your questions.
1) If I had gone to Budapest, I would have seen the Danube.
2) I visited the Hungary years ago If I'd known it was so fascinating.
3) If only I had told him about the phone call, he wouldn't have wasted his morning trying to speak to the supplier
4) Even if I had applied for a ticket, I probably wouldn't have got one.
5) Had I got up earlier I might have got to my meeting on time.
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Comment number 6.
At 4th Jul 2011, Tenzin wrote:My blog teacher,
I am glad to hear you again and I like to do my home work and I will be waiting for your great correction.
1. If I had gone to Budapest, I would have seen the Danube. (have gone / had gone / go / went)
2. I __had_____ visited Hungary years ago if I'd known it was so fascinating! (had / (nothing) / would / might have)
3. If only __I have told _____ him about the phone call, he wouldn't have wasted his morning trying to speak to the supplier. (I have told / I told / I had told / I tell)
4. __whether_____ I had applied for a ticket, I probably wouldn't have got one. There was so much demand! (Only if / Even if / If only / Whether)
5. _If I got up earlier I might have got to my meeting on time. (Had I, I had, If I, Have I)
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Comment number 7.
At 4th Jul 2011, beatriz wrote:Hi Will and the rest of the group!
I´m happy doing "English homeworks". Here the sentences:
1) If I had gone to Budapest, I would have seen the Danube.
2) I would/might have visited Hungary years ago if I´d known it was so fascinating.
3) If only I had told him about the phone call, he wouldn´t have wasted his morning trying to speak to the supplier.
4) Even if I had applied for a ticket, I probably wouldn´t have got one. There was so much demand!
5) Had I got up earlier, I might have got to my meeting on time.
Looking forward to new posts. Thanks for your help. Bye. Beatriz.
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Comment number 8.
At 6th Jul 2011, hero26 wrote:Hi Will and everybody,
İ think grammer is one of the difficult part of english we learn.Neverthless we have to learn properly at first in order not to built wrong sentences. So learning true form is vital at first because ıt ıs dıffucult to make change ın our mind afterwards.
1) If I had gone to Budapest, I would have seen the Danube.
2) I might have visited Hungary years ago if I´d known it was so fascinating.
3) If only I had told him about the phone call, he wouldn´t have wasted his morning trying to speak to the supplier.
4) Even if I had applied for a ticket, I probably wouldn´t have got one. There was so much demand!
5) Had I got up earlier, I might have got to my meeting on time
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Comment number 9.
At 9th Aug 2011, KAZIRUKANYO wrote:Hello every body
I aim very happy to be one of your member at ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ in this way i thank that we will work in full collaboration and i hop you will help me to progress in English.
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