English Language Blog

Conditional sentences (sentences containing “if”) usually have two parts. One part is the result and the other part is the condition that the result depends on. To figure out which part of the sentence is which you just need to locate the word “if.” The condition of the sentence usually comes right after the word if. The result of this condition usually follows a comma (,) which is used to separate the condition from the result.

There are two common types of conditional sentences in English, either real conditionals or unreal conditionals. The difference between these two is simple, real conditionals refer to things that are true/fact or possible, whereas unreal conditionals refer to things that are unreal, hypothetical or not possible.

Here are some true conditionals:

If you study hard, you will get an A.

If I have extra money, I will buy a soda.

If John grows up to be rich, he will buy his parents a mansion.

In all these examples you can exchange the words ‘might’ and ‘may’ with the word will if the conditional result is less likely to happen.

Here are some unreal conditionals:

If I were rich, I would buy you a new car.

If children ruled the world, there would be ice cream for every meal.

If my sister were here, she would know what to do.

You will notice in these examples that the past tense is used when talking about the present or future. This may seem strange at firsts, but when you see an “if” sentence like this it should help you remember this is an unreal conditional.

Today I have a little American history lesson for you about something called the Pony Express. The Pony Express is piece of American history that most Americans learned about at some point in school.  It is also the subject of a number of movies about “the wild west” of the United States.

The Pony Express was a mail delivery service that took messages and letters from Missouri to California on horseback. (Even though the mail system was called the Pony Express, no ponies were ever used. Ponies are very small horses. Only large/normal sized horses were used in the Pony Express.) The reason this mail delivery service was called the Pony Express was because the mail was delivered very fast, which made it express.  It only took 10 days for mail to go from the beginning of the route in St. Joseph, Missouri to the route’s end in Sacramento, California.  I know that sounds like a long time now, but back in the 1860’s that was pretty fast, especially considering there were no trains that went all the way across the United States, so mail usually had to travel in horse drawn wagons.

So, how did this fast moving mail service work? There were two key components: the riders (men riding horses with bags of mail) and the stations (the different locations the riders went to in order to pick up and drop off mail, change horses, and rest). There were 184 different stations along the Pony Express. The stations and station keepers (those who worked just at the stations) were essential to the successful, timely delivery of the mail. The riders of the Pony Express were the heroes and legends of the Pony Express though.  There are many stories told about these brave and adventurous men, who rode through parts of the country with rough weather, difficult terrain, desolate landscape, and places where Native Americans were hostile to the riders. Riders on the Pony Express worked hard, riding as fast as they could for 75 miles (120 km) before stopping, and letting the next rider take over.  The riders changed their horses about every 10-12 miles (16-19 km) at stations. They rode a regular route, so there was little danger of getting lost, but there were a lot of other dangers of course. The riders even rode at night! The mail didn’t stop moving from morning until night until it reached its destination – that is how it went so quickly across the country after all.

Below is short video about the Pony Express, which you can watch to find out more about this interesting time in American history. If you watch the video you will also learn why the Pony Express lasted only 2 short years.

I love to hike! In fact I love hiking so much a few years ago I went on a 2,180 mile (3,508 km) 5-month long hike on something called the Appalachian Trail.  The Appalachian Trail is just one of many long-distance hiking trails around the world that attracts hikers like myself who like to be out in nature a lot. I wanted to introduce you to some of these trails today as well as four different ways to say “walking for a long distance”.

Hiking, backpacking, trekking, and tramping are four different ways to talk about going for a long walk. Hiking, backpacking, tramping, and trekking all usually involve carrying food, clothing and shelter on your back in a backpack and walking for an extended period of time. Hiking is sometimes used to describe more casual walks, but can be used to talk about months long journeys in the wilderness. Backpacking usually describes a walk taken with a backpack (in which you store your personal items), where the person intends to spend the night (or multiple nights) sleeping away from home. Trekking is sometimes used to describe more difficult journeys. Tramping is a long distance walk as well. The word tramping is very commonly used in New Zealand and Australia instead of the word hiking.

So, now lets talk about some trails…

The Appalachian Trail, or simply the AT, is a hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between the states of Georgia and Maine. The exact length of the trail changes over time as the trail is modified, but the total length now is approximately 2,200 miles (3,500 km). The trail was first proposed in 1921 and completed in 1971. If you hike this trail from beginning to end you will walk through 13 American states.

The Pacific Crest Trail, commonly abbreviated as the PCT, is a long-distance hiking and horse trail that starts in the desert at the Mexican-California border and travels through the high mountains of the west coast of the United States, to the Washington state-Canadian border. The trail only goes through three US states, but it is 2,663 miles (4,286 km) long. Before the PCT became an official long-distance hiking trial in 1968 it was a route used to transport material on horseback.

Te Araroa is New Zealand’s newly completed (finished in 2011) long-distance trail that extends from the southern town of Bluff to the northernmost point in the country at Cape Reinga. The trail is divided into approximately 300 sections ranging from hikes of 1–2 hours to up to 9-day routes. It takes multiple months to hike the whole trail. Although the straight line distance from Cape Reinga to Bluff is 1475 km, the Te Araroa Trail covers a distance of 1860 miles (3000 km).

The Israel National Trail is a hiking path that crosses the entire country of Israel from the trail’s northern end in Dan near the Lebanese border to the southern end in Eilat on the Red Sea. The total length of this twisty-turny trail is between 580-620 miles (over 1,000 km).  The Israel National Trail officially opened in 1994.

El Camino de Santiago or The Way of St. James is a famous trek that originated as an important Christian pilgrimage during medieval times. The trek starts in points throughout southern Europe with people walking to northern Spain (where St. James is believed to have been buried) in Santiago de Compostela.  There is no specific length for this trek, because people can start anywhere in France, Italy, Spain, etc., but all those walking on the trek are walking in the direction of Santiago de Compostela.

Do you know of any other long-distance hiking trails? There are many more out there. Later this week I will have a post about hiking or tramping gear, in case you have been inspired by reading this post and want to get out do some backpacking yourself.