What would happen if..? (2nd Conditional)

You are going to practise the 2nd conditional by

• discussing some imaginary situations
• reading some texts and doing some comprehension activities  featuring conditionals

Note; Conditionals can be revised here  Conditionals 1 and 2


1) Introduction

Look at the presentation and answer the questions in pairs or groups. Click to go to each new question.

If... 2nd conditional

View more presentations from David Mainwood

2) Discuss

What do you think?

1. What would happen if you stopped sleeping?
2. If the ice caps melted, would it flood Earth?
3. What would happen if you were locked in an airtight room? How long would you survive?
4. What would happen if a large meteorite hit the Earth?

3) Reading / Webquest

Read the questions for each text and then click on the links to go to the page and find the answers

1) What would happen if you stopped sleeping?

Look at these questions

1. What happens if you don't get enough sleep?
2. What are the 3 theories of why we sleep?
3. What do you think happens after three days of no sleep
4. What would happen if you were forced to stay awake?

Now read here to find the answers
http://express.howstuffworks.com/ask-mb-stop-sleep.htm

2) If the ice caps melted, would it flood Earth?

Read the text below. Fill in the gaps with these sentences endings;

a) sea levels would not be affected.
b) it wouldn't flood all the Earth.
c) it would add another 20 feet to the oceans.
d) all of these cities would be under water.
e) sea levels around the world would rise about 200 feet.




Full text here http://express.howstuffworks.com/ask-mb-ice-melt.htm

3) What would happen if you were locked in an airtight room? How long would you survive?

Read the text to find the answer
http://express.howstuffworks.com/ask-mb-oxygen.htm

Read again. Match the numbers and sentences in the exercise below.

4) Finally (very), what would happen if a 500km asteroid hit the Earth?

• Would we survive?
• What would happen to the oceans?
• What would happen to life on Earth?

Watch the video and find out. Turn the captions on and read the subtitles.






More practice
More here  http://express.howstuffworks.com/ask-marshall.htm
What other interesting facts can you find?

Can you make any more questions with what would happen if..?
Ask the questions and give answers.

Go here for more conditionals practice  Conditionals 1 and 2


Printable exercises here



Answers for Ex1 and Ex4 highlight below

Ex1

1. You're more prone to disease, and a child's growth can be stunted by sleep deprivation.
2.    A) Sleep gives the body a chance to repair muscles and other tissues and replace aging or dead cells.   B) Sleep gives the brain a chance to organize and archive memories (dreaming is probably a part of that process).   C) Sleep may be a way of recharging the brain.
3. A person will start to hallucinate and clear thinking is impossible. With continued wakefulness, a person can lose grasp on reality.
4. You'd probably fall asleep before something as drastic as death could happen.

Ex 4 

Life would not survive and the oceans would be vaporized