Questions tagged [conditionals]
An independent clause that refers to a hypothetical situation contingent on another set of circumstance.
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How do the tenses and aspects in English correspond temporally to one another?
Non-native speakers often get confused about what the various tenses
and aspects mean in English. With input from some of the folk here I've
put together a diagram that I hope will pro...
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When to use "If I was" vs. "If I were"?
If I was...
If I were...
When is it correct to use "If I was" vs. "If I were" in standard English?
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When should I use "Would", "Would have", "Will", and "Will have"?
I hope someone, once and for all, can clarify (with examples) the difference in usage of will vs. would vs. would have vs. will have.
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"If I were you, I'd apologise to my/your mum"
I'm stuck with this example which I don't know how to solve:
A: I've said bad things to my mum.
B: If I were you, I'd apologise to your mum.
Is it supposed to be your or my instead?
My feeling ...
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Why do I instinctively want to use the present tense with a conditional?
My boss is not a native speaker of English, so he often asks me to correct his writing. The problem is, he wants me to explain why I make changes, and doesn't accept "it just sounds better that way" ...
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Future tense in conditional clauses
All the textbooks I have ever come across during the course of my studying English emphasize that future tense should not be used in conditional clauses.
For example,
If it rains in the evening, we ...
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Can "would" be used twice in an English conditional sentence and still be grammatical?
I know how conditional if clause sentences work. I'm aware of the rules which I have to follow. However, I sometimes use would after would which of course is incorrect in terms of grammar.
Is there ...
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“whether” vs. “if ” [duplicate]
How can I know when should I use whether or if in a sentence? I can not see any difference between whether and if. When should I use each? For me, they are the same and I am not sure if there is a ...
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3
answers
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Using "will" after "if"
I've been told that native-speakers don't ever use "will" after "if", and that saying it this way is a not-native style.
So from the film (Harry Potter, pt5) I noticed a line that confused me. Look ...
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Usage of "if you would"
In a recent conversation the following sentence came up:
I would be honored if you would join me there, {name}.
A friend of mine stated that this is grammatically wrong and the correct way ...
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"It would be better if you drink/drank all the water" [duplicate]
Which one of the following is grammatically correct?
It would be better if you drink all the water.
It would be better if you drank all the water.
The question is, obviously, about the use of ...
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"When I am 18, I will..." or "When I will be 18, I will..." [duplicate]
Should I say:
When I am 18, I'll take my driving test
or
When I'll be 18, I'll take my driving test
Which one is the correct sentence?
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Why do we say "I would appreciate it if you paid in cash," but not "I will appreciate it if you pay in cash"?
In the dictionary, I found this example (Source):
I would appreciate it if you paid in cash.
Clearly, this is the conditional sentence, type 2 which expresses something that is impossible in the ...
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"If I didn't have" vs. "if I hadn't had"
Can someone please tell me if these sentences are correct? I prefer number one. Here I am trying to talk about a past condition that didn't actually happen because the person had the example sentences ...
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2
answers
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Placing a comma after a conditional statement
I've always had difficulties in figuring out where commas should be placed. For example, in a phrase containing a conditional statement, how should I write...
If they don't arrive by noon, she'll ...
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answers
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"won't" vs. "wouldn't"
Are these two words interchangeable? How do you know when to use one or the other?
For some sentences it is easy to know which one to use, but not for others. The type of sentences that are difficult ...
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How does the false-conditional work in "I made sandwiches if you want some"?
This use of "if" has a completely different meaning than its normal conditional meaning. Can someone explain to me how this construction works, and provide other examples of this sort of thing?
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You won't catch the train if you don't/won't leave in time [closed]
You won't catch the train if you don't leave in time
You won't catch the train if you won't leave in time
I'm pretty sure the correct version is "You won't catch the train if you don't leave in ...
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"If I knew you're coming I wouldn't have come"
Is the statement
If I knew you're coming I wouldn't have come
correct? Should we use
If I had known you're coming, I wouldn't have come
instead? Please consider American-British differences.
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Difference in meaning: "would have had to be" vs "would have had to have been"
Being a non native speaker, I cannot spot the difference here:
He would have had to have been there.
He would have had to be there.
The only thing that comes to my mind is that in the first case, ...
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Different conditional clauses — "if you saw", "if you were to see", "if you had seen"
Given the following sentences, what is the difference between the conditional clauses in them?
If you saw a lion in a thick forest, what would you do?
If you were to see a lion in a thick ...
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Comma in conditional sentence and in antithesis
I've got a couple questions:
Should I always put comma between condition and consequence parts, like in the following sentence:
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Should I always ...
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2
answers
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"Will have" vs. "Would have"
By the end of the year, I would have attended this school for five years.
Of course, the "most" correct way of writing this would be:
By the end of the year, I will have attended this school for ...
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"Would have" in conditional clauses
I have been taught to use the if I had form in conditional clauses referring to the past:
If the president had asked me, I would have told him the same thing.
As far as I can tell though, the ...
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"If I go.." vs. "If I will go.." referring to the future [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Future tense in conditional clauses
Which one is correct?
option 1: If I go there, I can meet her
or
option 2: If I will go there, I can meet her
I clearly remember, ...
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answers
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I recommend vs. I would recommend
I just realized that throughout my life I have interchanged "I recommend that you do X" and "I would recommend that you do X".
Is there a difference in their meanings in modern-day usage, or are they ...
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How do you punctuate an if/then when both the "if" and the "then" are implied?
Examples:
If you lie, then you're out.
If you do it right, then you can have a cookie.
The above are standard if/then clauses. "If" is a subordinating conjunction introducing a subordinate clause, ...
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Usage of 'had been' or 'were'
I was doing an exercise. I completed the sentence as following.
If you were my child, I would have demanded that such an irresponsible teacher be fired.
But the answer given in the book is ...
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answers
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Present tense and conditional tense in a stated past tense
I have a question about using past and conditional tenses in a context that refers to something told in the past. I think I’ve seen both forms used in films/books, etc., but I'm not sure about it ...
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Is this an imperative sentence?
Is this sentence an imperative sentence, or does it have conditional meaning?
You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it’ll rub off on you.
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What's the tense for repetitive past action?
In English, "would" usually denotes a conditional voice. "If I were sleepy, I would go to bed."
But I've caught myself using it to denote repetitive or habitual past action. "On Thursdays, we would ...
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"I would have never said" vs. "I would never say"
I know a lot of questions have been asked about would or would have but I haven't found any answers that help me understand this three-party conversation, with C possibly a native speaker:
A: How ...
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Is it a case of a sloppy conditional, a rare past habitual, or...? "Sometimes he would have come back"
I was reading this article in The Guardian, and I came across an odd-sounding sentence:
Sometimes Toby would have come back, and there would be loud music in the drawing room;
My impression was, ...
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Use of "should have" in conditional sentences
In Return of the Soldier (1918) I came across what appears to be a conditional sentence:
I never should have got this telegram if me and my husband hadn't been down there last September and told ...
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The use of "were- should- had” at the beginning of sentences instead of “if”
Conditionals in English are usually formed by using if with normal word order; but for the three past (subjunctive) forms were, should, and had, it is also possible to express the conditional through ...
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A Strange Conditional: "I couldn’t have talked to her that day if I never talked to her again"
In The Great Gatsby, thus pens Fitzgerald:
‘However—I want to see you.’
‘I want to see you too.’
‘Suppose I don’t go to Southampton, and come into town this afternoon?’
‘No—I don’t think this ...
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Why “What if I told you…” and not “What if I tell you…”?
Exactly in which category of grammar does this type of sentence fall?
What if I told you …
Why don't we use tell instead of told, as it sounds this event has happened in past. Can anyone explain ...
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Is "I would understand everything you said if you said it in Portuguese" correct?
"I would understand everything you said if you said it in Portuguese."
Is it any kind of conditional? And if it is, can you tell me which one?
As I wrote this I had the feeling that it should be:
...
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When is "will" used in an "if" clause?
Given the following sentences that use will in the if clause (which is seldom with if-clauses and therefore, I'm not sure they all are even grammatical or not).
If you will/would kindly lend me ...
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A conditional sentence with present perfect
Is it correct to say:
If you have finished it by then, I'll come and take it.
thus using the present perfect in the "if" clause to mean the future instead of the present?
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Conditionals with multiple verbs
I'm an ESL teacher. Normally I teach lower intermediate but I also teach a mixed level grammar review class. I pride myself on being able to explain things clearly but today I found myself in THREE ...
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I wish you would have died... vs. I wish you had died [duplicate]
I was watching an episode of the Arrow TV series and I came across the following sentence:
Tommy (to Oliver): I wish you would have died on that island.
I know Americans tend to use constructions ...
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Using "if" or not in a sentence structure when expressing doubt
I use the following sentence construction a lot.
I'm not sure if this is right.
I was not aware of any problem until recently I noticed that quite a few of my colleagues used it a little ...
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What is the etymology of WERE in the Second Conditional?
Today I was teaching my student the Second Conditional. When she asked for some examples I gave her: "If I were you, I would..." That was where she asked: "What is the etymology of this WERE?"
How ...
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conditional mood, can the hypothetical entity be identified?
Does English grammar distinguish between a conditional sentence where the point of view is realistic, but the result is indeterminate; and one where the point of view is hypothetical, but the result ...
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What's the truth about the subjunctive and conditional statements, anyway?
I have generally (I would say always, but I'm not sure I always thought this) supposed that in English, uses of the subjunctive are quite limited. They include desires, judgments, etc. ("I desire that ...
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Which dialects of English consider "would" to be a polite form of "will"?
My recent trip to India exposed me to many sentences using "would" as a polite substitute for "will", as in
Please make sure to leave on time. The last bus would depart at 8PM.
...
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"Even were he not to..."
I am currently reading "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" by P.K. Dick and I have come across a grammatical structure I don't quite understand. The excerpt is the following (no spoilers, don't ...
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Conditionals in the future
My colleague and I have a hot discussion about which is correct.
My version is:
If you don't fix the bug I will send you a patch.
and his one is:
I would send you a patch if you don't fix the ...
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"I wonder how my life would have been different had she lived"
In the game Rise of The Tomb Raider, there's a mission where Lara (main protagonist) explores her parents' mansion. Her parents died when she was a child.
As she explores the possession, she recalls ...
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