They're not really that hard Jack. Try these: First conditional: If she is there, we will see her. Second Conditional: If I could speak Persian, I would travel to Iran. Third conditional: If you had studied enough, you would have passed the test.

If all swans are white, and this bird is black, then this bird must not be a swan. However, if this bird is a swan, and this bird is black, then not all swans are white. How can I hear you if you mumble? If you buy this computer today, we will give you a memory upgrade to 16 GB for free. If you need to drive to Springfield today you'd better go the long way, there's construction on the Expressway. "Miss Pipperidge, if you'll be mine, I'll be yours for the rest of my life."--From a show tune Colloquial and British: "He’s been in the army four years, he wants a good time, and if you don’t give it him, there’s others will, I said."--T. S. Eliot, "The Waste Land" "If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride."--Saying "If the interruption to the flow of the sentence is but slight, the writer may safely omit the commas."--Strunk & White, "The Elements of Style." "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."--Sir Isaac Newton

Now let's see how many lines from Pink Floyd's "If" you can translate! If I were a swan, I'd be gone If I were a train, I'd be late And if I were a good man, I'd talk with you more often than I do If I were to sleep, I could dream If I were afraid, I could hide If I go insane, please don't put your wires in my brain If I were the moon, I'd be cool If I were a book, I would bend If I were a good man, I'd understand the spaces between friends If I were alone, I would cry And if I were with you, I'd be home and dry And if I go insane, will you still let me join in with the game? If I were a swan, I'd be gone If I were a train, I'd be late again If I were a good man, I'd talk to you more often than I do

"That is as well said as if I had said it myself."--Jonathan Swift "Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take."--Traditional children's prayer "if old Pontifex had had Cromwell’s chances he would have done all that Cromwell did."--Samuel Butler, "The Way of All Flesh." Notice the two "had's!" "I wonder whether he would have admired a real Michelangelo painting if the critics had said that it was not genuine."--(simplified from) Samuel Butler, "The Way of All Flesh"