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I've found this sentence in a grammar site :

"you'll surely pass the exam if you studied hard"

(independent clause in the future and dependent clause in the past)

Wouldn't be more natural : "...if you study hard" ?

Does the original sentence express doubt about the willingness to study?

Puime

2 Answers 2

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If the exam is in a week, then the following makes sense:

You'll pass the exam if you study hard.

If a student is voicing his fears to his friend on the morning of the exam, the following makes sense:

You'll pass the exam if you studied hard.

Tenses don't need to agree if the intent of the speaker is to make a statement based on some event having happened in the past.

He will do well if he prepared himself well.
He will be tall if he inherited his father's genes (more figurative than exact.)
He will not be well rested today if he went to bed at 3 a.m.!

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    One of the happy times logic prevails over formulaic inflexibility. Apr 8, 2014 at 19:51
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Either:

You'll pass the exam if you study hard,

or

You'd pass the exam if you studied hard.

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    You'll pass the exam tomorrow if you studied hard during the past weeks
    – msam
    Apr 8, 2014 at 13:52
  • "You'll...studied" would be right in that context. It's just that the OP didn't seem to have that context in mind when he asked, Wouldn't be more natural : "...if you study hard"? Apr 8, 2014 at 14:06
  • What is natural is whatever it is that the speaker intends to say, then said correctly. You cannot guess what the speaker intended to say from the context, only that the OP doesn't see it as natural. Apr 8, 2014 at 23:00
  • There is a small chance that it was the special-case context where someone is about to take an exam, and the speaker is referring to past studying. It would be more convincing if the speaker had used the present perfect "have studied", rather than "studied". Apr 9, 2014 at 10:48

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