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I got a question from my english teacher if I wanted to participate in October in a course on new rules and I want to answer using second conditional:

If there wasn’t another option, I would be interested in hybrid courses.

and to be honest I'm not sure if it sounds good in english? I want to write that I can participate in course on new rules if face-to-face classes won't took place. Does this sentence sound like I talk about the future?

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  • If there were no other option, I would be interested in hybrid courses.
    – Bruce Murray
    Commented Jun 16, 2020 at 0:19

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The condition in this statement is possible and not unlikely: it is possible that there isn't another option; I don't think that corresponds to "second conditional".

The sentence you propose isn't what you would say to your teacher, but it could appear in a sentence about what you said to your teacher.

In speaking to your teacher (direct speech), you could have said

If there isn't another option, I would be interested in hybrid courses.

In telling someone what you said to someone else (reported speech), you could say

I told her if there wasn't another option, I would be interested in hybrid courses.

The backshift of "isn't" to "wasn't" happens in reported speech. That backshift is optional, so you could also have said

I told her if there isn't another option, I would be interested in hybrid courses.

Google Books Student's Introduction to English Grammar "backshift"

"In fact, even with preterite reporting verbs backshift is often optional: you can keep the original present tense instead of backshifting it.

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  • Thank you for your answer. I constructed this sentence in this way because in my book is written that second conditional = if+past simple, would/wouldn't + infinitive. And that we can use it to talk about hypotetical situation in the present or future. I understand it probably in an incorrect way...so sentence, which wrote Bruce is still not what I want to say to my teacher?
    – Kasia Wojciechowska
    Commented Jun 16, 2020 at 6:37
  • Ok so, last months of our english classes were held online due to the coronavirus. And there is no 100% certainty that in October will be possibility to have face-to-face classes because of pandemic. No one know, time will tell. And the teacher wants to know if students who participated these classes would be interested in online classes again. So I want to say that if there won't be face-to-face classes in the October then ok, then I may participate in hybrid courses (although I prefer traditional course). I hope I explained it better...
    – Kasia Wojciechowska
    Commented Jun 16, 2020 at 7:24
  • @KasiaWojciechowska Looking back at your question, I see that the "no other options" can be one way or the other, and you are open to hybrids if there aren't other options, In that case, I think my answer above is correct. Bruce's comment could be continued "If there were no other option, I would be interested in hybrid courses, but there is another option, so I am not interested." That use of subjunctive "were" is for a counterfactual. Does that help?
    – Jack O'Flaherty
    Commented Jun 16, 2020 at 7:28
  • @KasiaWojciechowska Thanks for the clarification. It came through just as I finished the last comment. It confirms that I understood your original post.
    – Jack O'Flaherty
    Commented Jun 16, 2020 at 7:31
  • Thank you so much for your help. So sentence you wrote isn't second conditional, right?
    – Kasia Wojciechowska
    Commented Jun 16, 2020 at 7:38

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