5
Environmental problems (A)
Textbook: pp. 26–29
GoalDiscussing environmental problems with the first and second conditionals; pollution, damage, reduce, recycle.
New words
pollution · ifloslanishdamage · zarar yetkazmoqreduce · kamaytirmoqrecycle · qayta ishlamoq
Explanation
The first conditional describes a real, possible situation: If + Present Simple, will + verb. If factories reduce smoke, the air will become cleaner. The second conditional is for imaginary or unlikely situations in the present or future: If + Past Simple, would + verb. If I were the mayor, I would plant a thousand trees. In the second conditional we often use were for all persons: If I were you... When the if-clause comes first we use a comma; when it comes last we do not: We will save water if we fix the tap.
Worked examples
If every family sorted its rubbish, the city would recycle far more paper and glass.
If you leave the tap running, you will waste several litres of water.
Class activity
“Chain reaction”: one student starts with If..., the next turns the result into a new if-clause (If we cut trees, birds will lose homes. If birds lose homes, ...).
Practice
1
Complete (Conditional I): If it rains tomorrow, we ___ (not / clean) the river bank.
won’t clean
2
Complete (Conditional II): If I ___ (have) a garden, I would grow vegetables.
had
3
Which is real and which is imaginary? (a) If I find a plastic bottle, I will recycle it. (b) If I were a fish, I would never swim in a dirty river.
(a) real, first conditional; (b) imaginary, second conditional
4
Why do we say “If I were you” and not “If I was you” in careful English?
In the second conditional the subjunctive were is used for all persons to show the situation is imaginary.