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Conditionals are sentences containing ?if? which refer to past, present, and future possibilities. There are two clauses, the ?if? clause and the main clause. The ?if? clause contains the condition that has to be met before the action in the main clause can be realized. The main clause can be thought of as expressing the consequence. There are five main conditionals: Zero Conditional, First Conditional, Second Conditional, Third Conditional, and Mixed Conditional. The Zero Conditional is formed as follows: if/when + present tense, present tense. This form is used for actions or facts that are set. The First Conditional is formed as follows: if + present simple, will. This is used to talk about real situations in the future that are possible once the condition has been satisfied. The Second Conditional is formed as follows: if + past simple, would/could/might + base form. This form communicates a present or future hypothetical situation that is presently not true and is unlikely to ever be true. The Third Conditional is formed as follows: if + past perfect, would/could/might + have + past participle. This form is used to refer to a hypothetical past and the hypothetical past result. The Mixed Conditional is usually formed as follows: if + past perfect, would + base form. This refers to a hypothetical past and the hypothetical present consequence. Some teaching ideas for teaching conditionals include: split sentences, complete the conditional, chain conditionals, dilemma questions, and ?What would happen if??? questions. When direct questions are changed into indirect/reported speech, the following takes place: the questions word remains but the form of the verb changes into the positive form, and the questions mark is omitted. There are no quotation marks in reported speech. Pronouns will also change to specify who was spoken to. Time expressions may also be back shifted to appropriately report the time. I learned that there are several forms of conditionals, each with their own set of rules and usages. It would be easy for students to mix them up so it's important to pair appropriate exercises with each point so that students can practice the lesson point in context to how they would be used in real situations. When teaching reported speech, it's important to highlight the parts of speech that are shifted: forms of verbs, pronouns, and time expressions.
