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Are the following sentences correct?

I have some confusion with them because of the mismatched tenses. I am just confused a little bit about the uses of different tenses in the same sentence.

We have to decide what point will be the next.

If he sends my package to me, that will really make me happy.

2 Answers 2

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I believe the form of the sentence "If he sends my package to me, that will really make me happy." is the more correct of the two. Although as a native speaker, it sounds better to me as "If he sends my package to me, I will be really happy."

First off, conditional sentences are also known as conditional clauses or 'if' clauses. They express that the action portrayed in the main clause cannot take place if a certain condition expressed in the 'if' clause isn't fulfilled. The conditional sentence we're dealing with is a type I which means that it refers to something happening in the future that is likely to occur. The package being sent is a rather reasonable condition. This sentence therefore combines a simple-present 'if' clause with will+infinitive in the main clause, giving us the sentence "If he sends my package to me, I will be really happy."

For more information on the subject you might want to check out the following links: http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/if_type1.htm

http://www.englishgrammar.org/type-1-conditional-sentences/

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  • Welcome to English Language & Usage! Please explain your answer, preferably with some supporting statements and references.
    – NVZ
    Commented Nov 30, 2016 at 18:55
  • @NVZ Thanks for your suggestion! I revised my original answer to include more details and additional reading.
    – JayDavis
    Commented Nov 30, 2016 at 19:28
  • Yes, it's much better now. :)
    – NVZ
    Commented Nov 30, 2016 at 19:31
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Somewhat. Personal preference, I feel the use of "need" would better fit instead of "have", but it is all up to you. The correct sentence would be:

We (need/have) to decide what point will be the next.

The sentence is not flawless. The tenses are correct, they are both future-tense.

We have to (future) decide what point will be (future) next

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    Thank you Sir. I understood. But what are about these sentences ? One is "If he sends my package to me, that will really make me happy." and another one is "If he sends my package to me, that would really make me happy." Are these correct ? If you find any mistake here, please tell me. Thank You Sir.
    – Omar
    Commented Nov 30, 2016 at 16:11
  • The second one is better, and makes more sense. "Will" implies something is going to happen, "would" implies that something may happen.
    – Jared
    Commented Dec 1, 2016 at 15:33

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