Page 124 - Basic English Usage

166 — 167 . 124

Special tenses and ordinary tenses compared
The difference between if / get and /f/ got, or if | have and if! had, is not
a difference of time. They can both refer to the present or future. After /f,
the past tense suggests that the situation is less probable, or ,
impossible, or imaginary. Compare:
/f ! become President, I'l]... (said by a candidate in an election)
If! became President, |'d ... (said by a schoolboy)
if! win this race, I'll... (said by the fastest runner)
If! won this race, I'd ... (said by the slowest runner)
Past situations
To talk about past situations that did not happen, we use a past perfect
tense (with had) in the ifclause, and a perfect conditional (see 88) in the
other part of the sentence.

if+ past perfect, perfect conditional
perfect conditional if+ past perfect

if you had worked harder, you would have passed your exam.
lf you had asked me, | would have told you.
I'd have been in bad trouble if Jane hadn’t helped me.

166 if-sentences with could and might

In ifsentences, we can use could to mean ‘would be able to’ and might
to mean ‘would perhaps’ or ‘would possibly’.
If} had another £500, | could buy a car.
(= ... | would be able to buy a car.)
If you asked me nicely, | might buy you a drink.

167 if only

We can use /fonly... / to say that we would like things to be different.
It means the same as / wish (see 367), but is more emphatic.
We use the same tenses after if only as after / wish:
a. past to talk about the present
if only | knew more people!
if only | was better-looking!
In a formal style, we can use were instead of was.
If only | were better-looking!

b. would to refer to the future
If only it would stop raining! ©
lf only somebody would smile!