Conditional Sentences

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Conditional Sentences

• The meaning of Conditional Sentences

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Conditionals
Future(predictive)
Imaginative(Subjunctive)
Factual

• 1. Timeless
• Generic
• Habitual

• Hypothetical
• Present
• Future
• Counterfactual
• Present
• Past

1. Strong condition and result
2. Degrees of weakened condition or result

• 2. Time-bound
• Implicitinference
• Explicitinference

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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.

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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.

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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 havent 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.

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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.

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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, Ill stay home.
• If you finish your vegetables, Im going to buy
  you an ice cream cone.
• If Steve comes to class, he will get the answers
  to the quiz.

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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

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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.

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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...

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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, Ill stay home. (Future)
• If it were to rain, I would stay home.
  (Hypothetical)

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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.