First aid（The Fifth Period The Subjunctive Mood）

t: quite right. zhang hai, you try the third pair of sentences.
s2: this pair of sentences talks about improbable future. "were to or should + an infinitive" or the past tense is used in the if-clause "would+ an infinitive" in the main clause.
t: very good. in addition, "should, might, could" are also possible in the main clause of each ease.
  (teacher writes the verb-form in each case on the bb.)
t: and the structure "were i/you/he/ etc." should i/you/he/etc" and "hadi/you/he etc" can be used instead o "if i/you/he/etc. were" "if i/you/he/etc. should" and "if i/you/he/etc. had". can you understand?
(teacher writes them on the bb.)
ss: yes.
t: now, please rewrite these sentences on the screen if possible. volunteers?
s3: were i you, i would not lose heart.
s4: had i left a little earlier, i would have caught the train.
s5: should they act like that again, we should criticise them severely.
t: well done. but there's another case you should pay attention to. sometimes, the if-clause and the main clause don't talk about events or situations happening at the same time. in this ease, the verb-form depends on its own meaning. look at the examples on the screen
1. if the weather had had been more favourable, the crops could be growing still better..
2. if we hadn't been working hard in the past few years, things wouldn't be going so smoothly.
3. amy would be alive today if the doctor had come sooner last night.
(teacher and the students go through the sentences on the screen and study them together.)
t: next, let's learn the verb-forms after "wish". look at the sentences on the screen.
1. i wish i were handsome. ( i am not handsome)
 i wish you didn't work so hard. (you work too much.)
2. she wishes she hadn't said it. (she said sth. unpleasant.)
3. i wish you would shut up. (you will talk all the time.)
t: in the first pair of sentences, the past tense is used after wish to express a present meaning; in the second sentence, a past perfect tense is used to express a past meaning; in the third sentence, " would + an infinitive" is used to express a future meaning. is that so?
ss: yes.
t: and the verb-forms after "as if" or "as though" is the same as the verb-forms after wish. look at the examples on the screen.
1. i've loved you as if you were my daughter.
2. they talked as if they had been friends for years.
3. it seems as if it would rain.
(teacher and the students go through the examples together to make sure the students understand them. then teacher goes on with some other cases.)