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  1. If it should rain tomorrow, the party would not be held.
  2. If I were to be young again, I would go to America to study.
  3. If the sun were to rise in the west, I would not break my word.

(from a Korean English Grammar book)

Present real conditional (1) has its reference time in the future, and present unreal conditional (2) and (3) have their references in the present; so I guess 'would' in all three can be replaced by 'will.' Is this possible?

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Listenever
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1 Answers1

3

All three are unusual sentences. They would normally be expressed, at least in speech, as

  1. If it rains tomorrow, the party won’t go ahead.
  2. If I was young again, I’d go to America to study.
  3. Even if the sun rose in the west, I still wouldn’t break my word.
Barrie England
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  • What I wish to know is that in your 2 and 3; can 'would' be replaced by 'will'? – Listenever Apr 07 '13 at 09:21
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    No, not without changing the verb in the ‘if’ clause like this:

    'If I’m young again, I’ll go to America to study (unlikely).'

    'Even if the sun rises in the west, I still won’t break my word.'

     – Barrie England Apr 07 '13 at 09:38