Is it a conditional sentence?

Question

Hello, I am a bit confused about this sentence:

"If you could choose any profession in the world, what would it be?"

Is it a conditional sentence? If yes, what conditional type is here? ( <--- is this question also conditional?)

I have some difficulty determining whether sentences are conditional or not - just with a conjunction "if".

And by the way, what preposition do we use here: at/in that phase/period ?

Thanks

Dimsumexpress · Accepted Answer

Zygis"If you could choose any profession in the world, what would it be?"

This can be tricky. If we follow the conditional rules, yes, it is. This one fits more of the hypethetical category than the conditional though. People may call this type 1, or real conditioanl

If you have time, can you go to the bank for me ? Real condition. Present / present aux.

If you had time, could up pick up my dry clean? 2 nd conditional. past verb/ past aux.

CalifJim · Answer

ZygisIf you could choose any profession in the world, what would it be?"
Is it a conditional sentence?

Yes. Type 2 (in the form of a question).

ZygisIf yes, what conditional type is here? ( ... is this question also conditional?)

Yes, it's also a conditional. It's a variant of a Type 0 (also in the form of a question).

Any statement with an IF clause and a main clause is technically a conditional statement because it contains a conditional clause - the IF clause. It turns out that only a few of the many possible conditionals are important enough to be numbered.

CJ

Zygis · Answer

Thank you very much. Both of you

But there's still some uncertainty:

CalifJim
ZygisIf you could choose any profession in the world, what would it be?"Is it a conditional sentence?
Yes. Type 2 (in the form of a question).

But don't we use the past tense in the if clauses of Type 2 conditional sentences? "If you (the past tense), you could do something."

Thanks.

Zygis · Answer

?

CalifJim · Answer

ZygisBut don't we use the past tense in the if clauses of Type 2 conditional sentences?

Yes.

The sentence wasn't If you can choose any profession ... (can = are able)

It was If you could choose any profession ... (could = were able)

CJ

Is it a conditional sentence?

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