{"id":72873,"date":"2019-11-15T06:27:30","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T06:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/?p=72873"},"modified":"2019-11-15T06:27:30","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T06:27:30","slug":"if-it-werent-for-idiomatic-expressions-with-if","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/if-it-werent-for-idiomatic-expressions-with-if\/","title":{"rendered":"If It Weren&#8217;t For | Idiomatic Expressions With If"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>If ever<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This expression is used for suggesting that a particular description fits someone or something.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>My husband is a real movie buff if ever there was one. He knows almost everything about movies and movie stars.<\/li>\n<li>If ever a teacher deserved this award, Mrs. Betty is the one. (= Mrs. Betty is the most deserving candidate for this award.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>If it were not for<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This expression is used to suggest that one particular person or situation changes everything.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If it weren\u2019t for my kids, I wouldn\u2019t have anything to hope for.<\/li>\n<li>If it weren\u2019t for the two coast guards, she would probably have drowned. (= The coast guards changed the situation. If they weren\u2019t there, she would probably have drowned.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To talk about the past we use, if it had not been for.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If it hadn\u2019t been for your help, I don\u2019t know how I\u2019d have coped.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>If I were you<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This structure is used when giving someone advice.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If I were you, I wouldn\u2019t miss that opportunity. (This is an indirect way of suggesting that the listener shouldn\u2019t miss that opportunity.)<\/li>\n<li>If I were you, I wouldn\u2019t waste 1000 bucks on that car.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>If only<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This structure is used to say that we would like things to be different. Note the use of past tense after if only.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If only we were rich.<\/li>\n<li>If only I spoke better English.<\/li>\n<li>If only she knew how much I love her.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What if\u2026?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This structure is used for asking what would happen in a particular situation.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What if she didn\u2019t like the proposal?<\/li>\n<li>What if we just cancel the trip?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If ever This expression is used for suggesting that a particular description fits someone or something. My husband is a real movie buff if ever there was one. He knows almost everything about movies&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[1879,1547,1880],"class_list":["post-72873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-idioms","tag-idioms-with-if","tag-if-i-were-you","tag-if-it-werent-for"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72874,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72873\/revisions\/72874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}