Linguapress.com -
Free EFL
reading resources
Contact:
by email only, to
contact "at" linguapress "dot" com
|
Linguapress
Essential
ENGLISH
GRAMMAR

The
Conditional in English
The
conditional clause
in English:
Clauses
with if
or unless
Type
1. The open
conditional
statement :
This
usually refers to a future event which is conditional on another future
event.
The verb of the main
clause is in the future tense with "will"
(or
sometimes another modal).
The verb of the conditional
clause is in
the simple present tense.
- If you
eat too much, you'll
get fatter.
-
You'll get fatter if you eat too much.
-
If everyone works fast, we'll finish in
time.
-
We won't finish in time unless everyone
works fast.
-
If I go to London, I can visit the
British Museum.
-
If you visit Scotland, you should visit
Edinburgh Castle.
-
Unless the directors can increase
sales, we'll have to close this shop.
Occasionally,
the open conditional statement describes one potential state of reality or
circumstance which is dependent on another. In this case, both verbs
are in the present
tense.
- If
I sleep well at night, I
feel much happier next morning.
- If the
temperature falls below zero, it
freezes.
- If it
rains, everyone gets wet.
In an open
conditional statement, if
is sometimes replaced by when: but there is
a difference. Using "if"
implies that the condition really is open and may not be fulfilled,
using "when"
implies that
the condition will be fulfilled, that the event will really take place.
Type
2. The open hypothetical
conditional
statement:
This
refers to a possible future situation
which depends on on another possible future situation. The verb of the main
clause uses the present conditional tense (would + infinitive,
or could
+infinitive);
The verb of the conditional
clause normally uses the present
subjunctive or preterite (these two tenses are identical except with to be).
Occasionally, the conditional aspect of the statement can be emphasised
by using the form were
+ to + infinitive.
-
1A If
you ate too much, you'd
(you would) get fatter.
-
1B You'd get fatter if you ate
too much.
-
2A If everyone
worked faster, we would /
could finish in time.
-
2B We wouldn't finish in time
unless
everyone worked faster.
-
2C If everyone were to work
faster, we would/could finish in time.
-
3 If I went to
London, I would / could
visit the British Museum.
-
4. If you visited Scotland,
you could see Edinburgh Castle.
-
5 Unless the
directors increased
sales, we'd have to close this shop.
Note also this common expression (which
uses the open hypothetical form,
though it is clearly quite impossible!)
- 6.
If I were you, I'd ..........
As in: If
I were you, I'd go a bit slower / If I were you,
I'd put that gun down !!
This form is also used in cases of reported
speech.
- My professor told me I'd do much better if I
worked harder.
- The magistrate informed him
that he'd go to
prison
unless he stopped stealing.
- The newspaper reported that
unless
the
directors could increase sales, they'd have to close the
shop.
Type
3. The unfulfilled
hypothesis
This refers to
a situation which an event might
have taken place, but did not, because
a condition was not
fulfilled.
The verb of the main
clause
goes in the past conditional (would
have + past participle).
The
verb of the conditional
clause goes in the past perfect (had
+ past
participle).
Examples:
- If you
had eaten too much,
you'd (you would) have got fatter.
- You'd
have got fatter if you'd eaten too
much.
- If
everyone had worked fast, we'd have
finished in time (but
we didn't).
- We
wouldn't have finished in time
unless everyone had worked fast (but we did).
- If I
had gone to London, I could have
visited the British Museum (but
I didn't).
- If you
had visited Scotland, you could
have visited Edinburgh Castle
(but you didn't).
- Unless
we'd been very confident of
success, we wouldn't have even tried.
(But
we were confident, we did try, and we succeeded).
Note: using "
unless"
"Unless" means the same as "if ...
not", and has a negative value. It is frequently (but not only) used in
conditional statements where the verb of the main clause is
also
in the negative.
-
You wouldn't have fallen over unless there'd been a banana
skin on the ground.
- =
You wouldn't
have fallen over if there hadn't been a banana skin on the
ground.
4
Omission of "if",
with inversion.
Sometimes, hypothetical
conditional statements or unfulfilled hypothetical
statements can be expressed omitting
the word if.
When this happens the subject
follows
the auxiliary
verb in the conditional
clause
Examples:
- Were the virus
to reappear, hospitals would now be ready for it. (open
hypothesis)
-
=
If the virus reappeared,
hospitals would now be ready for
it.
-
or
If the virus were to
reappear, hospitals would now be
ready for it.
-
Had
I
known, I'd never have gone there (unfulfilled hypothesis;
implying "I did go there because I did not know".)
-
= If
I had known, I'd never
have gone there.
Copyright : Website
and texts © Linguapress.com 2009-2012 except where otherwise
indicated
|
Advertising
|
|