Grammar Test:Conditionals

If I ______ (to have) one billion dollars I ______ (to donate) a half to charity.

1. had/donated

2. had/would donate

3. would have/would donate

4. would have/donated

Correct Answer: 2. had/would donate

• Explanations:

The second conditional is used to talk about unreal, unlikely, impossible or imaginary things, events or situations. The structure is usually if + past simple (the hypothetical or unlikely part) and would/could/might + infinitive (the possible result of the imaginary situation). As the test answers consist only of ‘had/donated’ and ‘would have/would donate’ variants, the test sentence ‘If I ______ (to have) one billion dollars I ______ (to donate) a half to charity.’ describes an unlikely situation. It means that ‘I don’t have one billion dollars, that is why I can’t donate a half to charity.’ The speaker is still thinking about the future possibility, but it is imaginary – I imagine that I could donate some money to charity, but it is unlikely. In this case the question between the first and the second conditional is often a question of the speaker’s attitude to the situation.As for the test ANSWER, we are to choose ANSWER 2 (had/would donate).