Conditional Sentences

1. Conditional Sentences The meaning of Conditional Sentences

2. Conditionals Future(predictive) Imaginative(Subjunctive) Factual • 1. Timeless • Generic • Habitual • Hypothetical • Present • Future • Counterfactual • Present • Past • Strong condition and result • Degrees of weakened condition or result • 2. Time-bound • Implicitinference • Explicitinference

3. Factual Conditional Sentences • Generic Factual Conditionals • Relationships that are true and unchanging • If oil is mixed with water, it floats. • If you boil water, it vaporizes. • Normally take a simple present tense in both clauses. • Especially frequent in scientific writing.

4. Factual Conditional Sentences • Habitual Factual Conditionals • Relationship based on habit; • Past or present relationships that are habitually true. • If I wash the dishes, Sally dries them. • If Nancy said, “Jump!” Bob jumped. • Both clauses usually have the same tense • Frequent in conversation.

5. Factual Conditional Sentences • Implicit inference conditionals • Specific time-bound relationships. • Much wider range of verb tenses. • If smog can be licked in L.A., it can be licked anywhere. • If the radicals haven’t made the government more responsive, they have wasted their time. • If there was a happy man in the world that night, it was John Tunney. • Both clauses usually have the same tense • “When(ever)” cannot substitute for “if”.

6. Factual Conditional Sentences • Explicit inference conditionals • Specific time-bound relationships. • Marked with modals. • If he was there, he must have seen the painting. • Usually makes use of “must” or “should”. • “When(ever)” cannot substitute for “if”.

7. Future Conditional Sentences • Strong Condition or Result • Future plans or contingencies; • Normal pattern is simple present tense in the if clause and some explicit indication of future time in the result clause. • If it rains, I’ll stay home. • If you finish your vegetables, I’m going to buy you an ice cream cone. • If Steve comes to class, he will get the answers to the quiz.

8. Future Conditional Sentences • Degrees of Weakened Conditional or Result • Prediction scale – Result Clause: • will, be going to = certain (strong result) • should = probable • may = possible (stronger than might) • might = possible (weaker than may) • To weaken the condition clause: • should; happens to; should happen to

9. Imaginative Conditional Sentences • Hypothetical Conditionals • Express what the speaker perceives to be unlikely yet possible events or states in the if clause; • Can refer to the future as well as the present • If Joe had the time, he would go to Mexico. (Present) • If Joe were to have the time, he would go to Mexico. (Future) • The if clause is not strongly negated.

10. Imaginative Conditional Sentences • Hypothetical Conditionals • The negative quality of the if clause can be even further weakened so that the possibility of the result occurring becomes stronger: • If Joe should have the time, he would go to Mexico. • If Joe happened to have the time, he would go... • If Joe should happen to have the time, he would go...

11. Imaginative Conditional Sentences • Hypothetical Conditionals • Sometimes, the difference between using a future conditional and a hypothetical conditional is a matter of speaker choice: • If it rains, I’ll stay home. (Future) • If it were to rain, I would stay home. (Hypothetical)

12. Imaginative Conditional Sentences • Counterfactual Conditionals • Express impossible events or states in the if clause • Reference to the present or past • If my grandfather were alive today, he would experience a very different world. (Present) • If my grandfather had been alive in 1996, he would have been 100 years old. (Past) • The if clause is strongly negated.