and me

Grammar: First, Second and Third conditionals

They won’t give me any handouts if I ask for them. If I needed a loan, I would probably ask my grandparents.

C I am a self-confessed shopaholic – online, in the main street, anywhere I can! It’s a real problem because when I go overdrawn on my checking account or on my credit cards, I have to pay bank fees. If my parents knew how bad my spending was some months, I think they’d stop my allowance. But I also have a way of making money – I sing in a band and so we get paid to play at parties or weddings on weekends and during vacations.

Evie Elis

D If I hadn’t been born in the year that our country went into a recession, my parents probably wouldn’t have brought me up with such a strong sense of the value of money. So, if somebody ever lends me money, I’ll pay them back as soon as I can. I can’t imagine taking out a loan, but if I did, I would pay it off as soon as possible. And I would have found a Saturday job too, if my parents had allowed me. But they said I have to concentrate on my studies until I finish college.

I would have found a Saturday job too, if my parents had allowed me.

We use the first conditional to talk about things that are likely or possible to happen in the future. We use the second conditional to talk about things that are hypothetical or unlikely to happen. We use the third conditional to talk about things that are impossible to change in the past.

 Grammar reference p. 60

5 Match the two halves of the sentences.

1 I will only come out on Saturday

2 My parents wouldn’t have paid for the vacation

3 I wouldn’t buy a lottery ticket

4 Would you have lent me the money

5 You’ll never save any money

6 Would you buy a house rather than rent one a n even if I’d asked them. b n if I get my allowance. c n if I had asked you? d n if I were you because you hardly ever win. e n if you had the money? f n if you keep going shopping!

6 Underline the correct alternative.

1 If I were / would be you, I’d look for a summer job.

2 If my parents haven’t / hadn’t married so young, they would probably have been richer.

3 I ’d / ’ll pay off my debts when I earn a bit more money.

4 There wouldn’t be a recession if the government spend / spent less.

5 If the bank gives / will give me a loan, I buy / ’ll buy a motorbike.

6 If there hadn’t been / weren’t so many people applying for the job, I will / would have got it.

Speaking

7 Pairwork Ask and answer the questions.

● What sort of relationship do you have with money?

● Do you save every cent or do you spend money like there’s no tomorrow?

● What things do you prefer to buy?

● Do you think money can really solve all problems and make people happy? Why?

handout money you get for doing nothing (often from older people) max out on spend the most you can on a credit card

If I receive money as a present for my birthday this year, I’ll end up spending it on stupid things. In fact, I don’t care about money, and if I didn’t have any, it wouldn’t bother me at all...