IGEは留学生を応援！戸石薫さん 大学時代の 7年前、船で世界一周旅行の際、怪我をしたことにより車いす生活に。船で世界一周というのは、戸石さんの夢であり、今回のアメリカ語学留学もその一環。今後も船での世界旅行は継続。こ の記事は、2019年7月7日に戸石さんと談笑したものを、IGEがまとめたものです。 写真左端が戸石薫さん。 左から二人目と三人目は、ホームステイの鈴木良子さんと息子の翔平君。良子さんもIGE留学生で、アメリカの看護師を目指しSaddleback Collegeに留学中。 右端は、現在NATA大学院を目指して留学中の山下悟史さん。戸石さんのサポートを行っています。

戸石さんはFLS語学学校に留学中ですが、通学はオレンジカウンティの障碍者用バス（Door-to-Door)で毎日通学しています。渡米直後は英語が理解できず、どこに行くにも怖かったそうです。しかし1ヶ月が経った今は英語にも慣れ、毎日が楽しくなりました。先日は、Los AngelesとSan Diegoを結ぶ長距離電車Metrolinkに一人で乗ってSanDigoへ行ったそうです。

Conditional sentences express situations that happen or do not happen based on certain conditions. These sentences consist of an if-clause (dependent clause) and main clause. We can also use unless, which means "if not."
Example: If it rains tomorrow, we will stay home. Unless you get here by noon, we will miss the train.
There are several types of conditional sentences: statements that reflect real or unreal condition in the present, past, and future.

1. Present time, real condition: something always happens when something else happens.
    a) If I don't understand something in class, I ask my teacher to explain it to me.
    b) If Tom gets bored, he plays video games.
    c) If you are tired, you should take a break.

2. Future time, real condition: expresses possible result that depends on a certain condition.
    a) If you marry her, you will be happy.
    b) If you do all your homework today, you will be free tomorrow.
    c) We will turn on an air conditioner if it gets hot.

3. Present time, unreal condition: means that the condition is not true now, and the result is only imagined.
    a) I would buy my parents a big house if I won a lottery.
    b) If I were you, I would apologize right away.
    c)If he had more time, he would call you.

4. Past time, unreal condition: the condition was not true in the past, and the result shows what could happen but didn't.
    a) If we had listened to his advice, we would have saved ourselves a lot of trouble.
    b) If I had had more opportunities, I could have become rich.
    c) If they had been on time to class, they wouldn't have missed important information.

5. Mixed time, unreal condition: the condition is not true in relation to the present, past, or future.
    a) If he had studied harder, he wouldn't worry about his grades right now. (past unreal condition with present result)
    b) We could buy this car if we had saved more money. (present result based on an unreal past condition)

Now you can test yourself with this exercise. Put the verbs in the correct form. Answers are provided below.

1) Ann: I'm feeling cranky. If I (stay)____at home with all this homework another hour, I will go crazy.
2) John: If you (start)_______ doing your homework last week, you (not have)__________to do so much now.
3) Ann: But I (miss)_________ four birthday parties if (spend)______ time on my homework last week.
4) John: Oh well, now you have to pay the price. If you paid more attention to your studies, you (not waste)______ your time on parties.
5) Ann: Johnny, thanks for the advice. But if I (be)____ you, I wouldn't tell others what to do.

Answers:
1. stay; 2. had started, wouldn't have; 3. would have missed, had spent; 4. wouldn't waste; 5. were.