Dealing With Conditionals in Conversation

So, here is the deal with conditionals in our communication. There are three specific rules and they are easy to remember. Really! Now, I am not in favor of promoting a grammar approach to learning another language. People do not speak like grammar books. People communicate as appropriate within their cultural context, and it all works out harmoniously. Language is flexible, and expansive. No, I did not say, expensive. Some of those language books and programs are expensive, however. Now, here we go. Contitional 1: This is the real, pure conditional language form, because real or possibly real situations are presented. When an event or condition occurs we use conditional 1. We often use the word, "unless" in conditional 1. "Unless he does something about the cockroach problem in his home, nobody will want to visit him." "If there continues to be a problem with bugs in the home, nobody will go see him." The use of the present simple tense in the "if" clause, followed by a comma will result in this conditional, but a comma is not always needed depending on how the "if" clause is arranged. Conditional 2 This conditional is called the unreal conditional because a situation is not likely to occur. It is not a possible situation. It really will not happen. The verb "to be" is always conjugated as "were." Examples: "If I were in charge of the project, I would..." "If he cleaned the kitchen better, there would be fewer ants." However, based on his personality, and history, it is improbable that he will do a better job cleaning the kitchen. "If I had more money, I would travel to Europe." Or, you can say, "I would travel to Europe if I had more money." The use of the past simple in the "if" clause is used in the unreal conditional. Conditional 3 This is the past conditional because it deals with what happened in the past. It is common to beging a conditional 3 sentence with, "If he had..." "If I had..." If you had..." "If she had stayed in New York, she would have been hired by that company." In this conditional pattern the past perfect tense is used. That means the verb "to have" in the form of "had" is used.