4. Put in the right conditionals. The secret of a long life

Grygori Pilikan recently celebrated his 114^th birthday and reporters visited him in his mountain village in Georgia to find out the secret of a long life. ‘The secret of a long life,’ Grygori said, ‘is happiness. If you (1) (be) are happy, you will live a long time.’ ‘Are you married?’ a reporter asked. ‘Yes,’ Grygori replied. ‘I married my third wife when I was 102. If you happily married, you (2) ___ (live) for ever. But for my third wife, I (3) ___(die) years ago.’ ‘What about smoking and drinking?’ a reporter asked. ‘Yes, they are important,’ Grygori said. ‘Don’t smoke at all and you (4) ___ (feel) well. Drink two glasses of wine a day and you (5) ___ (be) healthy and happy.’ ‘If you (6) ___ (can/live) your life again, what (7) ___ (you/do)?’ a reporter asked.’ ‘I would do what I have done. If I had more sense, I (8) ___ (eat) more yoghourt!’ he chuckled. ‘Supposing you (9) __ (can/change) one thing in your life what (10) ___ (you/change)?’ another reporter asked. ‘Not much,’ Grygori replied. ‘So you don’t have any regrets?’ ‘Yes, I have one regret,’ Grygori replied. ‘If I (11) ___ (know) I was going to live so long, I (12) ___ (look after) myself better!’

5. Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb in brackets.

Yesterday the famous bank robber, Fingers Smith, robbed another bank in the centre of town. As usual, he only stole $10. If he (1) had left (leave) any clues, he (2) ___ (be) in prison now, but he’s much too clever. He disconnected the security cameras; if he (3) ___ (not/do) that, the police (4) ___ (have) him on film now. The strange thing is, Fingers doesn’t seem to be interested in the money; if he (5) ___ (be), he (6) ___ (can/steal) thousands of pounds by now. The police are determined to catch him, and the Chief is confident that they will. He says that if he (7) ___ (think) they weren’t going to arrest Fingers eventually, he (8) ___ (leave) the police force long ago.

6. Translate into Russian.

1) Если бы он не был таким рассеянным, он не принял бы вас за мою сестру.

2) Алиса не купила бы эти книги, если бы не сдавала экзамен по истории.

3) Если бы вы приняли лекарство, вы были бы сейчас здоровы.

4) Если бы Чарльз знал адрес, он бы уже пришёл к этому времени.

5) Вероника не поехала бы с ним на Север после окончания института, если бы не любила его.

6) Если бы мы не были знакомы, он бы не пригласил нас на вечер.

7) Если бы я был на твоём месте, я бы проверил факты до того как написал письмо.

8) Он бы не опоздал на завтрак, если бы не разговаривал по телефону так долго.

9) Если бы ты была более тактичным человеком, ты бы не сказала ей это.

10) Если бы Сью работала усерднее в прошлом месяце, она не была бы так занята сейчас.

UNIT 7 "IF ONLY", "I WISH"

If only

'Only' can be placed after if and indicates hope, wish or regret according to the tense used with it:

a) if only + Present Indefinite / Future Indefinite – to express hope

If only he comes in time (= we hope he will come).

If only he will listen to her (= we hope he will be willing to listen).

b) if only + Past/Past Perfect – to express regret

If only he didn’t drive so fast. (= we are sorry he drives so fast)

If only you hadn't said that. (= we are sorry you said that)

If only I knew it for sure.– Ах, если бы я была в этом уверена (сейчас).

If only I had told her the truth. – Ах, если бы я сказала ей правду (в прошлом).

c) if only + would can express regret about a present action as an alternative to if only + past tense (it has the same meaning as wish + would).

If only he would drive more slowly.(= we are sorry that he isn’t willing to drive more slowly).

I wish

Wish expresses present, future, and past situations.

Here is a summary of patterns using wish:

Verb form after wish	Time reference	Example (+ meaning)
Past Indefinite	Present	I wish I knew the answer. (= I don’t know).
Past Indefinite	Present	I wish I were better at sports. (= I’m not)
Past Continuous	Present	I wish I were going with you. (= I’m not)
Could	Present	I wish I could give you an answer. (= I can’t)
Would	Future	I wish you would be quiet. (= Your taking irritates me)
Past Perfect	Past	I wish I had known you then. (= but I didn’t)
Could have	Past	I wish I could have explained. (= I wasn’t able to)

I wish he came. – Хорошо бы он пришёл.

I wish you knew him. – Жаль, что вы его не знаете.

I wish you had come. – Жаль, что вы не пришли.

E X E R C I S E S

1. Match the comments with the answers.

I feel so old The plants in the garden are dying We never hear from Angela I didn’t know you were ill I can’t afford to go out It takes hours to get to work She looked absolutely lovely We don’t see you very often nowadays Now everyone knows the secret

I wish it would rain. I wish you had told me. I wish we lived nearer the office. I wish you could come more often. I wish I hadn’t told anyone. I wish I were younger. I wish she would write more often. I wish I had more money. I wish I could have taken a photograph.