Unreal conditionals are very different than real conditionals. As the name unreal states, the conditions and the results are not real. For example, If I had a million dollars, I would give it to charity. This means the condition in the present is unreal: I do not have a million dollars. As a result of this, I can not give it away, which makes the result nothing more than a nice thought. There are 2 types of unreal conditionals, hypothetical and counterfactual (Cowan, 2008). This tutorial will go into the details. Remember, pay close attention to the way verb tenses and modals are being used.
The difference between hypothetical and counterfactual conditionals can be challenging. Therefore, we are going to take a moment and focus directly on these two. This video should help you see the difference in both form and function. Keep up the good work and pay close attention to the time frames of the condition and result clause as well as the verb tense of each clause.
I hope the video was helpful. Now let's take some time to do a quiz . This quiz will help test this important difference between the time frames of the hypothetical and counterfactual. Pay close attention because this is a very challenging aspect of conditional sentences.