1. Practice of the Past
Conditionals
Real and Unreal

2. If people needed to speak to each other, more often
than not they wrote letters rather than emails.
If I had been living in 1957, I would have probably been
better at spelling than I am now.
A town in England
receives its first
computer in 1957
TOPICS:
COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY

3. When people travelled, they often looked down
upon the natives of other lands.
What would you have done if you were the Indian
woman?
A colonial British man
in India is being
carried by a native so
he doesn’t have to
walk in the heat.
The photo was taken
in 1901
TOPICS:
SOCIETY
TRAVEL

4. When people partied, they would sometimes still
wear rather formal clothes
If these people had heard modern dance music,
they probably would have been extremely shocked.
A group of Germans
partying on a Friday
night at the beginning
of the Twentieth
Century
TOPICS:
PARTYING
MEN & WOMEN

5. When people needed to test the safety of things, they simply did it in real life
rather than a laboratory.
If you had been alive in 1912 would your life have been more or less
dangerous
If modern standards were applied then, people would have been sued.
A group of British
men testing safety
helmets.
The photo was taken
in 1912.
TOPICS:
SAFETY
DANGERS

6. When royalty travelled, they often did so quite
openly and were not scared of the public.
If England had followed France, we would have had
a revolution and abandoned our monarchy.
King George V of
England travels in his
coach. A beggar runs
alongside him asking
for money.
The photo was taken
in 1920
TOPICS:
KINGS and
MONARCHY
PUBLIC FIGURES

7. When people needed to groom themselves, they
often asked others for assistance.
If they had had better products, they would have
looked very different.
A man receiving a
shave from a barber
in 1940
TOPICS:
APPEARANCE
GROOMING
HYGIENE

8. When children couldn’t afford to go to school, they
had to go out and get a job.
If they had had more education, they wouldn’t have
been forced to work.
Child labourers taking
a smoke break in
America.
1880
TOPICS:
CHILDREN
CIGARETTES
WORK
HEALTH

9. When people had differing political or social views,
they could be executed publically.
If he had not have expressed his opinions, perhaps
he would have lived.
Munich, Germany.
A man is publically
executed for being a
communist.
Photo taken in 1919.