Grammar
How to propose a solution without claiming it will certainly work. With an error correction exercise.
Conditionals in IELTS matter for one practical reason: Task 2 constantly asks you to propose solutions, and a solution is by definition something that has not happened yet. The second conditional is the natural structure for that, and it is under-used.
Speaking Part 3 is full of them as well, in questions beginning what would happen if. Having the pattern ready means you answer the question rather than reshaping it into something easier.
The rules
Six points. The second is the one that earns marks in Task 2.
If prices rise, demand falls. Present simple in both halves. Use it for facts that are always true, which makes it useful for describing cause and effect in an essay.
If governments invest in public transport, congestion will fall. Present simple after if, will in the main clause. Use it when you think the outcome is genuinely likely.
If governments invested more, congestion would fall. Past simple after if, would in the main clause. This is the structure for proposing something that is not happening now, which is most Task 2 solutions.
If the scheme had been introduced earlier, the problem would not have grown. Past perfect after if, would have in the main clause. Mainly useful in speaking Part 3 and in examples.
Never put will or would in the if clause. If it will rain and if I would have known are both wrong, and the second is extremely common in speech.
Unless means if not, so never write unless you don’t. Provided that and as long as both introduce a condition and read as more formal than if.
Method
Six ways this earns marks under Grammatical Range and Accuracy.
It states what would follow from a change nobody has made yet, which is exactly what a solutions essay is doing, and it does so without overclaiming.
Speaking Part 3 asks them constantly. Answering with a matching conditional shows control of a structure examiners are listening for.
If I were in that position is the formal choice in writing. Was is accepted in speech, but were costs nothing and reads better.
Were governments to act now means the same as if governments acted now, and it is genuinely a higher-band structure. Use it once, not four times.
A past simple after if and a plain will in the main clause is the mixture examiners see most. Decide which conditional you are writing before you start the sentence.
The if clause can come second, with no comma: congestion would fall if governments invested more. Alternating the order improves the rhythm of a paragraph.
Practice
Each sentence contains one error. Choose the correction.
Read the whole sentence before you choose. Every option below is a real form of English, so the question is not which word exists but which one this sentence needs.
This is how examiners see your writing: not as rules broken, but as sentences that do or do not work.
1Correct the error: If the government will increase funding, standards will improve.
Increases. Will never appears in the if clause. English uses a present form there and keeps will for the main clause.
2Correct the error: If I would have known about the deadline, I would have applied.
Had known. The third conditional takes the past perfect after if. If I would have is very common in speech and always wrong.
3Correct the error: If cities invested in cycle lanes, fewer people will drive to work.
Would drive. The if clause is in the past simple, which makes this a second conditional, so the main clause needs would. Mixing halves is the commonest conditional error in Task 2.
4Correct the error: Unless the policy is not changed, the problem will continue.
Both A and B are correct. Unless already means if not, so adding a second negative reverses the meaning. Either drop the negative or replace unless with if.
5Correct the error: If I was the minister responsible, I would introduce the charge immediately.
Were. Was is accepted in speech, but formal writing uses were for a hypothetical situation. It is a small change that reads noticeably better in Task 2.
6Correct the error: If water reaches 100 degrees, it will boil.
It boils. A scientific fact takes the zero conditional, with the present simple in both halves. Will suggests a one-off future event rather than something always true.
That is normal, and it is the whole problem with grammar study. Recognising an error in a sentence someone has told you contains one is far easier than finding it in your own essay, where every sentence looks correct because you wrote it.
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Choosing the right option from four is not the same as producing the structure accurately under time in an essay.
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The second, for most solution paragraphs, because it describes what would follow from a change that has not been made. Use the first when you believe the outcome is genuinely likely.
No. Use a present form in the if clause and keep will in the main clause.
It is accepted in speech but not preferred in formal writing. Use if I were in Task 2.
It means if not, so it already contains a negative. Unless it is not repaired says the opposite of what is intended.
Rarely in writing. It is more useful in speaking Part 3, where questions about the past and what might have been do come up.
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