Thank You for Missing Your Flight — Third Conditional (B1 Grammar)

B1 - 3rd conditional

Eleven Minutes

PICTURE

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"Somewhere in Iceland, there is a volcano that owes us nothing and gave us everything."

*if* + past perfect, *would have* + past participle · *might / could have* · *'d* = *had* or *would*

Reading

Speaking

LEAD-IN

Sliding doors

Tiny events that changed everything. Tell a partner about a small coincidence with big consequences.

1. In your own life — a missed train, a cancelled plan, a wrong number?

2. Or in a film or book you know.

3. How different would things be now?

PICTURE

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BEFORE YOU READ

A broken alarm clock

This origin story needed three things: a broken alarm clock, a volcano, and a stranger's sandwich.

PICTURE

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READ ONCE AND ANSWER

1. What chain of accidents led to Femi and Clara meeting?

2. Which accident was the most important?

READING

Thank you for missing your flight

Every couple has an origin story. Ours needed a broken alarm clock, a volcano, and a stranger's sandwich.

In April 2010, I was flying home to Lagos via Amsterdam after a conference. Except I wasn't — because my alarm didn't go off, and I arrived at the gate eleven minutes late. Eleven minutes. If I'd set a second alarm, like a functioning adult, I would have caught that flight, and none of the rest would have happened.

While I was queuing to rebook, the departure boards started turning red. A volcano in Iceland — you may remember it — had thrown a cloud of ash across Europe, and within hours every plane on the continent was grounded. My missed flight suddenly meant nothing: nobody was flying anywhere. If I'd caught it, I would have been one of the last planes out. Instead, I was stranded with thousands of others in a terminal that was rapidly running out of everything.

By the second day, the airport had run out of food. I had one sandwich, bought at triple price, and I was looking for somewhere to sit when a woman with a laptop and an impressive collection of empty coffee cups moved her bag and said, "You look like you're about to faint. Sit. I'll trade you half that sandwich for a phone charger."

That was Clara. We were stranded together for four days. If the ash cloud had cleared earlier, we might have exchanged emails and forgotten each other — four days is exactly long enough to fall for someone's worst travel personality, which is the real one. She later admitted she wouldn't have spoken to me at all if she hadn't been desperate for a charger. Romantic, I know.

We got married in 2013. Our daughter is named Aska — we tell people it's Scandinavian; it's really for the ash. If my alarm had worked that morning, I would have landed in Lagos on time, Clara would have flown to Madrid the next day, and Aska wouldn't exist. Somewhere in Iceland, there is a volcano that owes us nothing and gave us everything.

COMPREHENSION

Match each cause to its real effect in the story.

1. The alarm didn't go off. → ____

2. The volcano erupted. → ____

3. The airport ran out of food. → ____

4. Clara needed a phone charger. → ____

5. The ash cloud lasted four days. → ____

EFFECTS

a) She spoke to a stranger.

b) They saw each other's "real" personalities.

c) Femi missed his flight.

d) A sandwich became valuable.

e) All flights in Europe were grounded.

GRAMMAR FOCUS

A past that never happened

a) If I'd set a second alarm, I would have caught that flight.

b) If I'd caught it, I would have been one of the last planes out.

c) If the ash cloud had cleared earlier, we might have exchanged emails.

d) She wouldn't have spoken to me if she hadn't been desperate for a charger.

e) If my alarm had worked that morning, ... Aska wouldn't exist.

1. Did Femi set a second alarm? Did he catch the flight? So does the third conditional describe real past events, or an imaginary past?

2. What is the structure? If + past ________ , would have + past ________ .

3. In (a), does I'd mean I had or I would? And in we'd have forgotten? How can you tell?

4. In (c), why might have instead of would have? How certain is the speaker?

5. Compare: If I didn't have a mortgage, I'd travel vs If I hadn't missed the flight, I wouldn't have met her. Which situation can no longer be changed?

THE RULES

Complete the rule

• Third conditional: if + ________ ________ , would / might / could have + ________ ________ — imagining a different past and its different results.

• 'd + past participle = ________ . 'd have = ________ .

• would have = a sure result · might / could have = a possible one.

CAREFUL

Mixed pasts and presents happen naturally too: If my alarm had worked, Aska wouldn't exist** — a past cause with a present result.

PRACTICE

Complete with the correct third conditional forms.

1. If you ________ (tell) me you were stranded, I ________ (drive) to get you.

2. She ________ (not sit) next to him if there ________ (be) any other free seats.

3. If the conference ________ (finish) a day earlier, they ________ (never meet).

4. We ________ (might stay) in touch if we ________ (exchange) numbers. Who knows.

5. If he ________ (not forget) the charger, she ________ (not need) his.

6. I ________ (not believe) this story if I ________ (not see) the wedding photos.

7. If the flights ________ (not be) cancelled, where ________ you ________ (go)?

8. He ________ (could get) home two days earlier if he ________ (take) the train. He didn't want to.

SPEAKING

The chain

Take one true fact about your life — your job, your partner, your city, this English class — and trace it backwards through five if links.

• I'm in this class because X.

• If X hadn't happened, I wouldn't have...

• And if I hadn't ..., I would never have...

• The most fragile chain — the one that depended on the smallest accident — wins.

PICTURE

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TEACHER'S REFERENCE · HIDE OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

GIST Broken alarm → missed flight → the volcano grounded every flight in Europe → stranded four days → a sandwich traded for a phone charger → marriage and a daughter.

MATCHING 1 c · 2 e · 3 d · 4 a · 5 b

GRAMMAR FOCUS 1 No and no — an imaginary past. 2 if + past perfect, would have + past participle. 3 I'd set = I had (a past participle follows); we'd have forgotten = we would (have follows). 4 Less certain — a possible result rather than a sure one. 5 The third conditional: the past cannot be changed.

RULE past perfect · past participle · had · would

PRACTICE 1 had told / would have driven

2 wouldn't have sat / had been

3 had finished / would never have met

4 might have stayed / had exchanged

5 hadn't forgotten / wouldn't have needed

6 wouldn't have believed / hadn't seen

7 hadn't been / would you have gone

8 could have got / had taken