If I were the Empress, the police would stop traffic for me, too.

I had an interesting experience this morning on the way to meet someone, but first, let's review. All week, I've been talking about conditional sentences:

http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/06/if-you-dont-understand-conditional.html
http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/06/if-you-dont-get-to-station-before-last.html
http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/06/if-you-put-hot-food-in-fridge-you-risk.html
http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/06/if-i-dont-hang-this-laundry-tonight-it.html

You might be able to guess that today I want to talk about second conditional. As I said back on Tuesday, second conditional is about a condition which is not real or impossible. Sometimes we call this a hypothetical situation.

• hypothetical situation 仮定｛かてい｝［仮想｛かそう｝］の状況

The grammar for second conditional is usually like this:

If I were you, <- "if" clause, past tense
I would try to master conditional sentences. <- main clause, "would" + v

The definitions below are from 英辞郎 on the web.

Textbooks use it to talk about situations that just aren't real:

If I were a 3-meter tall woman with four arms, I'd have trouble getting dates. <- get a date デートの相手｛あいて｝を見つける［つかまえる］
If my computer were made of cake, my fingers would be so dirty now.

You can use second conditional to express your wishes:

If there were 26 hours a day, I could get more done. <- get something done 手を打つ、策を講じる
If I had 100 million yen, I could easily retire somewhere in southeast Asia.

You can use second conditional to give advice.

If I were you, I'd become a vegetarian right away. <- sorry, I can't help but give you this advice :)
If I were you, I'd go back and review all of the posts on conditional sentences. <- really!

You can use second conditional to express relief:

If we lived in New York, we would have to worry about being mugged. mug ～を襲って金品｛きんぴん｝を奪う
If we lived in the Imperial Palace, we'd have to be more careful about everything we said.

So, speaking of the Imperial Palace, back to the story I mentioned at the beginning of this post. I was riding my bicycle on my way to meet someone. As I was riding through Otemachi, I saw many people at the intersection ahead of me. When I got there, I had to stop. The police had stopped all traffic: cars, trucks, bicycles, and pedestrians. One older man on the corner was yelling at the police, who ignored him. I looked far up the street and saw flashing lights.

"Ah, this must be some kind of VIP with a police escort," I thought. One motorcycle cop roared into the intersection, looked around, and sped off. He was followed by another. Then a black car drove up, and a man in a black suit checked out every direction and drove off. Finally, the whole motorcade came through the intersection. After two more police motorcycles, some police cars, and black cars, there was a Rolls Royce. Sitting in the back was the Empress. She was smiling and waving at everyone. The old man had stopped yelling. Her car proceeded towards the Imperial Palace, and after a minute, we were allowed to proceed. As a result, I was five minutes late to my appointment.

If I had been thinking, I would have taken a picture. <- which type of conditional sentence is this?

Anyway, like I said in the headline, if I were the Empress, the police would stop traffic for me, too. As it is, I have to yell at taxi drivers who try to run me over by myself, without any help from the police.

The picture for today's post is an idol of Ganesh, a Hindu god. This idol was given by Indian friends in California. If I were Hindu, I could explain it better. Unfortunately, I just know that it's auspicious for beginnings. I hope this picture will be good luck for your English studies. If you were Hindu, you would think so, too.

Have a nice weekend!