The Distance Between Us
Grammar: Conditionals
A Level 5 English lesson exploring psychology.
What's in this lesson
A Level 5 (advanced) ESL lesson on psychology, practising conditionals. The worksheet has a reading, target vocabulary, a grammar reference with practice and discussion questions.
From the reading: The Distance Between Us
"If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it." When the Australian philosopher Peter Singer published those words in 1972, in an essay called Famine, Affluence and Morality, he was not describing a radical fringe position. He was, he insisted, simply following an argument to its logical conclusion. "The fact that a person is physically near to us," he wrote, "does not make it more likely that we can help them, or more likely that helping them will prevent something very bad from occurring." Proximity, Singer argued, is morally irrelevant. Affluence — having resources beyond your immediate needs — creates a remedial duty to act.
Vocabulary
- beyond
- in
- of
- on
Grammar: Conditionals
- Third conditional
- If Singer had not written the essay, the debate would have looked very different. — past unreal condition + past unreal result
- Inversion in third
- Had governments acted sooner, millions would have been saved. — formal register; omit if, invert auxiliary
Discussion questions
- Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to help someone you can see?
- Why do people give to charities near home more often than to distant ones?
- Do you think where someone lives should change how much we care about them?
The Distance Between Us
Grammar: Conditionals
What's in this lesson:
Full lesson plan with reading, grammar, vocabulary, and discussion.
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