Complete the following sentences with the correct form of the verbs in the brackets. 1. If he ______ (be) younger, he ______ (travel) more. 2. If I ______ (go) out tonight, I ______ (go) to the cinema.
Answer (1)
To complete these sentences correctly, we need to understand the context and the structure of conditional sentences. The sentences given are examples of the second conditional.
The second conditional is used to express hypothetical situations that are unlikely to happen or not true at the present moment. It often talks about what you would do in an imaginary situation. The structure involves the use of the past simple tense after 'if' and 'would' followed by the base form of the verb.
If he were younger, he would travel more.
Here, we use 'were' instead of 'was' for all subjects in formal English, especially in conditional sentences. 'Would travel' indicates what he might do if the condition (being younger) were true.
If I go out tonight, I will go to the cinema.
However, if the sentence is meant to reflect a real possibility, this would be a first conditional sentence, which uses present simple after 'if' and 'will' plus the base verb for the result clause. If it is not meant to be a real possibility, you would structure it as, "If I went out tonight, I would go to the cinema," following the same second conditional structure as the first sentence.
In this context, the tense of the verbs indicates the hypothetical situation and the potential actions that follow those situations. Understanding the correct verb forms in conditional sentences allows you to express complex ideas about events that are contingent on other events.
