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English Conditionals (Extended)

An extended course on English conditionals for B1–C1, written for students and professionals in IT. It goes beyond the school four — zero / first / second / third — and builds on the Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman classification (factual, future-predictive and imaginative conditions), so you learn to choose a structure by meaning — fact, habit, implication, inference about the past, prediction, command, advice, hypothesis, the impossible — rather than plugging in «type two». Separate branches cover mixed conditionals, modals in the result clause, connectors other than if (unless, otherwise, provided that, as long as, only if, supposing, even if, whether or not) and the formal register with inversion (Should you need…, Had we known…). Every example and exercise comes from a developer’s working context: documentation and specifications, estimates, SLAs and contracts, code review, incident analysis, ADRs and RFCs, on-call and runbooks. The course ends with a practicum: a postmortem, a stakeholder email and a pull request comment, all written with conditionals.

Path through the course

· 16 units

the order is free · the steps below are the order the author suggests, not a conditionView: map · steps

  1. Stage 1

    ~0.9 h

  2. Stage 2

    ~1.1 h

  3. Stage 3

    ~1.2 h

  4. Stage 4

    ~1.2 h

  5. Stage 5

    ~1.4 h

  6. Stage 6

    ~3.9 h

    by the author’s design, after “Third Conditional: Writing the Postmortem”

  7. Stage 7

    ~3.6 h

  8. Stage 8

    ~2.1 h

  9. Stage 9

    ~1.5 h

    • 14 · практикум · by the author’s design, after 2 of these: “Factual Conditionals in Time: Habits, Implications, Inferences”, “even if, whether or not, even though: Condition vs Concession”, “I wish and if only: Regret in the Retrospective”

      Practicum: Postmortems, Estimates and Code Review

      ~1.5 h

  10. Stage 10

    ~1.2 h

  11. Exam

    closed · enrol on the course

    • final · in the browser, without the assistant

      Exam

The path in words
  • Stage 1 · Anatomy of a Conditional: Two Clauses, One Sentence — ~0.9 h
  • Stage 2 · Zero Conditional: The Language of Documentation — by the author’s design, after “Anatomy of a Conditional: Two Clauses, One Sentence”; ~1.1 h
  • Stage 3 · First Conditional: Plans, Releases and Commitments — by the author’s design, after “Zero Conditional: The Language of Documentation”; ~1.2 h
  • Stage 4 · Second Conditional: Design What-Ifs and Professional Distance — by the author’s design, after “First Conditional: Plans, Releases and Commitments”; ~1.2 h
  • Stage 5 · Third Conditional: Writing the Postmortem — by the author’s design, after “Second Conditional: Design What-Ifs and Professional Distance”; ~1.4 h
  • Stage 6 · Mixed Conditionals: Past Cause, Present Consequence — by the author’s design, after “Third Conditional: Writing the Postmortem”; ~1.1 h
  • Stage 6 · unless and otherwise: Conditions Stated Negatively — by the author’s design, after “Third Conditional: Writing the Postmortem”; ~1 h
  • Stage 6 · Inversion, were to, but for: The Formal Register — by the author’s design, after “Third Conditional: Writing the Postmortem”; ~1.1 h
  • Stage 6 · Optional: Conditionals in the Wild — Humour, Sarcasm and Fixed Phrases — by the author’s design, after “Third Conditional: Writing the Postmortem”; optional; ~0.7 h
  • Stage 7 · Modals in the Result Clause: Calibrating What You Promise — by the author’s design, after “Mixed Conditionals: Past Cause, Present Consequence”; ~1.3 h
  • Stage 7 · provided that, as long as, only if, in case: The Language of Contracts — by the author’s design, after “unless and otherwise: Conditions Stated Negatively”; ~1.2 h
  • Stage 7 · I wish and if only: Regret in the Retrospective — by the author’s design, after “Inversion, were to, but for: The Formal Register”; ~1.1 h
  • Stage 8 · Factual Conditionals in Time: Habits, Implications, Inferences — by the author’s design, after “Modals in the Result Clause: Calibrating What You Promise”; ~1.1 h
  • Stage 8 · even if, whether or not, even though: Condition vs Concession — by the author’s design, after “provided that, as long as, only if, in case: The Language of Contracts”; ~1 h
  • Stage 9 · Practicum: Postmortems, Estimates and Code Review — by the author’s design, after 2 of these: “Factual Conditionals in Time: Habits, Implications, Inferences”, “even if, whether or not, even though: Condition vs Concession”, “I wish and if only: Regret in the Retrospective”; ~1.5 h
  • Stage 10 · Traps, Diagnostics and Exam Preparation — by the author’s design, after “Practicum: Postmortems, Estimates and Code Review”; ~1.2 h

Programme · 16 units

1Anatomy of a Conditional: Two Clauses, One Sentence

Делить любое условное предложение на if-клаузу и главную часть

~0.9 h
2Zero Conditional: The Language of Documentation

Строить if + present, present, чтобы описать, как система ведёт себя всегда

~1.1 h
3First Conditional: Plans, Releases and Commitments

Строить if + present, will + инфинитив для обязательства или прогноза о реальном будущем

~1.2 h
4Second Conditional: Design What-Ifs and Professional Distance

Строить if + past simple, would + инфинитив для воображаемых и нереальных ситуаций в настоящем

~1.2 h
5Third Conditional: Writing the Postmortem

Строить if + past perfect, would have + причастие, чтобы описать то, чего не было

~1.4 h
6Mixed Conditionals: Past Cause, Present Consequence

Строить смешанный тип A (условие тогда, следствие сейчас) и объяснять, когда он обязателен

~1.1 h
7Modals in the Result Clause: Calibrating What You Promise

Располагать will, should, may, might и could по силе утверждения и отделять от них can

~1.3 h
8Factual Conditionals in Time: Habits, Implications, Inferences

Описывать привычку или правило в прошлом: if + past simple в обеих частях, с рамкой времени

~1.1 h
9unless and otherwise: Conditions Stated Negatively

Использовать unless как замену if … not в обычных условиях без двойного отрицания

~1 h
10provided that, as long as, only if, in case: The Language of Contracts

Использовать provided that и as long as, чтобы приложить к обязательству явное или длящееся условие

~1.2 h
11even if, whether or not, even though: Condition vs Concession

Отличать условие от уступки проверкой двумя значениями

~1 h
12Inversion, were to, but for: The Formal Register

Переводить первый, второй и третий тип в инверсию без if: Should you…, Were we to…, Had we…

~1.1 h
13I wish and if only: Regret in the Retrospective

Использовать I wish + past simple для того, что верно сейчас и что хотелось бы изменить

~1.1 h
14Practicum: Postmortems, Estimates and Code Review

Писать раздел постмортема без виноватого с третьим, смешанным и уступительным типами

~1.5 h
15Traps, Diagnostics and Exam Preparation

Называть одиннадцать повторяющихся ошибок в условных предложениях и русские привычки, из которых они растут

~1.2 h
16Optional: Conditionals in the Wild — Humour, Sarcasm and Fixed Phrases

Узнавать устойчивые условные фразы англоязычной инженерной культуры и их близкие русские пары

~0.7 h