These questions ask you to choose between two conditional patterns by reading how the premise presents the event. Do not decide from the event itself: decide from the speaker's explicit judgement of its likelihood, then check the two clauses.
Read likelihood before choosing forms
Start by underlining the likelihood signal. A forecast, expectation, good chance or high probability keeps the future event live, so build the first conditional. An explicit tiny chance, extreme unlikelihood, impossibility or counterfactual pushes the event away from reality, so build the second. Only after that decision should you fill the if-clause and the result.
| How the premise presents the condition | Clause pattern |
|---|---|
| A genuine or strongly expected future possibility | Present simple after if; will plus the base form for the stated future result. |
| An admitted remote, nearly impossible or contrary situation | Past simple after if; would plus the base form for the imagined result. |
| A fixed plan, commitment or definite prediction in the result | Preserve that strength with will in the first pattern or would in the second; a modal of mere possibility changes the meaning. |
| Either ordinary if-clause | Keep will and would out of the condition; they belong to the result patterns here. |
Use a two-pass check. First confirm that the chosen pattern matches the premise's reality signal. Then check its internal structure: present with will for a live future, past with would for a remote one. A grammatically tidy pair can still be wrong if it reverses the likelihood the speaker has stated.
Where the mistakes come from
- A likely or expected event is recast with the past-and-would pattern. That grammar makes the event sound remote, so it conflicts with the premise even though the two clauses match each other.
- A tiny or nearly impossible chance is recast with the present-and-will pattern. That form presents the condition as a live future possibility and overstates the likelihood supplied by the speaker.
- Will or would is inserted after if because it appears elsewhere in the conditional. For these ordinary patterns, the condition itself takes present simple in the first conditional or past simple in the second.
- The result is left in a simple present or past form. Once the premise calls for a stated future or imagined consequence, the result needs the matching will-or-would construction rather than another bare tense.
Try it
Complete the sentence with the correct form of the verb in brackets: The forecast gives an 80% chance of hail tonight, and the caretaker's approved plan commits her to the response: if the roof panels crack, she ___ them tomorrow. (replace)
Complete the sentence with the correct form of the verb in brackets: A transfer to the island office is very unlikely, but my partner and I have firmly decided our response: if the company offered one, we ___ there. (move)
Complete the sentence with the correct form of the verb in brackets: The venue is almost certain to pass tomorrow's safety check, and the club's signed schedule commits it to the plan: if the venue passes, the club ___ the regional debate there. (host)