B2 Zero and first conditionals

B2 GRAMMAR: ZERO AND FIRST CONDITIONALS

If, When, Unless

PICTURE

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"As soon as you've rehearsed a fear, it stops being a fear and becomes a procedure."

Zero conditional · first conditional with all present and future forms · time clauses · in case vs if

Reading

Speaking

A · LEAD-IN

What do you take just in case?

Discuss in pairs.

1. You're packing for a two-week trip. What do you take in case? (In case it rains, in case you get ill, in case the airline...?)

2. Whose bag in your family is the heaviest?

3. And whose philosophy is "we'll buy it there"?

PICTURE

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B · BEFORE YOU READ

Eleven years and four thousand hours

A pilot explains what eleven years of flying taught her about planning - and about the difference between hoping and preparing.

READ ONCE AND ANSWER

1. According to the author, what is the difference between how pilots think and how the rest of us think?

2. First: do you plan for problems in advance, or deal with them when they arrive?

PICTURE

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B · READING

If, when, unless: what flying taught me about planning

"The passengers hope for the best. The crew has already visited the worst."

Before I trained as a pilot, I thought checklists were for people with bad memories. Eleven years and four thousand hours later, I think they are the closest thing our species has to organised wisdom.

Aviation runs on conditionals. Some are laws of nature, true every single time: if the air gets thinner, the engines produce less power. If ice forms on the wings, they generate less lift. Nobody debates these; you learn them, and they stay learned. These are the always rules - cold, reliable, and wonderfully free of opinion.

Then there are the plans, and this is where it becomes interesting. Before every flight we brief the what-ifs, out loud, even when we've flown together for years. If the weather at the destination gets worse, we'll divert to our alternate. If we haven't received clearance by the time we reach the holding point, we'll wait - and if we're still waiting after twenty minutes, we're going to need more fuel, so we'll have made that decision before it becomes urgent.

By the time you hear a calm voice announcing a small delay, the crew will have been working through those branches for a while. The passengers hope for the best. The crew has already visited the worst, found it manageable, and come back.

B · READING (continued)

If, when, unless: what flying taught me about planning

The most misunderstood word in the cockpit - and, I'd argue, in life - is in case. We don't carry extra fuel if something goes wrong; we carry it in case something goes wrong. The difference matters enormously. If waits for the event; in case acts before it. You take the fuel anyway, precisely so that the emergency, when it declines to happen, costs you nothing but weight.

People sometimes ask whether all this conditional thinking makes pilots anxious. The opposite, in my experience. Anxiety is what happens when the future is a fog. A briefing turns the fog into a map: unless both engines fail over the mountains at night in a storm - a sentence I have never had to say twice - we know what we'll do, and when, and who does it. As soon as you've rehearsed a fear, it stops being a fear and becomes a procedure.

I've started running my life the same way. If my mother calls after 10 p.m., something's wrong - that one, sadly, is a an always true. I back up my laptop in case it dies, not if it dies. And before I make any big decision, I brief myself out loud, alone in the kitchen, like a one-man crew. My husband finds it hilarious. But he married a woman who has never once run out of fuel, petrol, or milk, and I notice he doesn't complain.

C · COMPREHENSION

Right or wrong? Correct the wrong ones.

1. The "always" rules of aviation are open to debate among pilots.

2. Crews discuss what-if scenarios only when flying with new colleagues.

3. The fuel decision is ideally made before the situation becomes urgent.

4. According to the author, in case waits for the event to happen.

5. The author believes conditional thinking increases pilots' anxiety.

6. The author now applies briefing habits to his personal life.

D · GRAMMAR FOCUS

Always true, or a plan for a real future?

a) If the air gets thinner, the engines produce less power.

b) If the weather at the destination gets worse, we'll divert to our alternate.

c) If we haven't received clearance by the time we reach the holding point, we'll wait.

d) If we're still waiting after twenty minutes, we're going to need more fuel.

1. Sentence (a) is always true, every time. Which conditional is this, and which tenses does it use? Can the result clause also be an imperative (If ice forms, switch on the anti-ice)?

2. (b), (c) and (d) are plans for real future possibilities. What do you notice about the if-clauses - are they all present simple? Which present forms appear? And the result clauses - only will?

D · GRAMMAR FOCUS

Future forms, in case, and time clauses

a) By the time you hear a calm voice..., the crew will have been working through those branches for a while.

b) We carry extra fuel in case something goes wrong. vs We'll divert if the weather gets worse.

c) As soon as you've rehearsed a fear, it stops being a fear. / Unless both engines fail..., we know what we'll do.

1. Look at (a). Which future form is this (will have been working)? What does it emphasise?

2. *The in case distinction, (b): which sentence describes acting in advance as a precaution, and which describes acting only if the event happens? Test it: I'll take an umbrella if it rains vs ...in case it rains* - in which sentence do you take the umbrella anyway?

3. In (c), what tense follows as soon as, even though the meaning is future? Now rewrite the unless sentence with if... not.

D · THE RULES

Complete the rules

Complete the rules with one word in each gap.

• Zero conditional: if + present form, ______ form in the result - for things that are always true.

• First conditional: if + any ______ form (simple, continuous, perfect) + any ______ form (will, going to, future continuous, future perfect) or an imperative.

• After when, as soon as, until, before, after, unless: a ______ tense, never will.

• In case = as a ______, before the event; if = only in the event.

CAREFUL

Unless means if... not - so we never use both: unless he doesn't come. And I'll call you when I arrive is a plan; I'll call you if I arrive means you may never get there.

E · CONTROLLED PRACTICE

Choose the correct form - or complete with the verb in brackets.

1. If you heat / will heat water to 100 degrees at sea level, it boils. Every time. It's not a discussion.

2. If she ______ (not reply) by Friday, I'm going to call her directly.

3. Take a power bank if / in case your phone dies on the trail.

4. I'll only complain to the manager if / in case the food is actually cold.

5. By the time you land, we ______ (finish) the report - I promise.

6. If you're driving / will drive through the mountains tonight, leave now, before the snow.

7. Unless the tests ______ (come) back clear, the doctor won't sign the certificate.

8. As soon as I ______ (hear) anything, you'll be the first to know. This time next week, we ______ (probably / celebrate).

F · FREER PRACTICE

The briefing

In pairs, choose a mildly risky upcoming event: a job interview, hosting twelve relatives, a hiking trip, moving flat.

• Brief it like a crew: three zero conditionals (the "always" rules), three first conditionals with varied forms.

• Add two *in case precautions and one unless* escape clause.

• Present your briefing in ninety seconds.

PICTURE

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TEACHER'S REFERENCE · HIDE OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

B GIST Pilots rehearse the future out loud - zero conditionals as fixed laws, first conditionals as branching plans, in case as advance precaution - so fear becomes procedure. Most people simply hope for the best.

C 1 Wrong - nobody debates them. 2 Wrong - every flight, even with familiar colleagues. 3 Right. 4 Wrong - in case acts before the event; if waits. 5 Wrong - the opposite: it reduces anxiety. 6 Right.

D PART 1 1 Zero conditional; present + present; yes, imperatives are fine in the result clause. 2 No - present simple (gets), present perfect (haven't received) and present continuous ('re still waiting) all appear; the results include will, going to and the future perfect continuous - not only will.

D PART 2 3 Future perfect continuous; duration up to a point in the future. 4 In case = advance precaution (the fuel is carried anyway); if = only when the condition occurs. Umbrella: with in case you take it anyway. 5 Present perfect ('ve rehearsed) with future meaning. Unless rewrite: If both engines don't fail..., we know what we'll do - grammatically fine but clumsy, which is exactly why unless exists.

RULES present · present; future · present · precaution.

E 1 heat · 2 hasn't replied (doesn't reply also possible) · 3 in case · 4 if · 5 will have finished (we'll have finished) · 6 driving · 7 come · 8 hear / will probably be celebrating.