Questions tagged [conditional-constructions]
For questions about constructions which associate a hypothetical or imagined 'condition' with a 'consequence' which is inferred to be true if the 'condition' is true OR predicted to occur if the 'condition' occurs. "If John arrives tonight we will have a party."
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How to properly express conditional causal relationship
Is this correct and normal way to express causation relationship?:
{Something} would not be required, had {something_other} been done properly.
Or maybe this form is more natural?:
If {...
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If he <did say> such a thing (indicative past or subjunctive past?)
If he did say (not said) such a thing, she would break up
with him.
Question: Is did say in the indicative past tense or in the subjunctive past tense?
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Time frame in a second conditional clause
In type 1 conditional sentences, the time is the present or future and the situation is real in both clauses.
In type 3 conditionals, the time is the past in both clauses.
In Type 2 conditionals, the ...
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Is the clause "I ever have" in the sentence "the best gift I ever have" grammatically correct?
I am hesitant whether the sentence "the best gift that I ever have", is appropriate for expressing that the gift that will be given to me in the future (might happen or might not) will be ...
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tense of the main clause with "if only"
Which tense should be used in the main clause of the following?
We tend / would tend to view the earth as capable of regulating itself, if only humans would stop interfering with it.
I'd ...
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Usage of Will/Would with the conditional clause
Occasionally, we have the occurrence of will/would in the condition clauses. In the below examples, 'will' and 'would' are supposed to have the meaning of 'willing to" or 'want to.'
Example 1. If ...
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"had + past participle " VS "could have + past participle " in conditional sentence
The following sentence is collected from cricinfo.com:
They were under a little bit of pressure then. If we could have carried on, we could have set them 220 or even more than that. So to get out ...
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"would" after "if" - "If you would just tell me, it would be easier for the both of us"
"If you would just tell me, it would be easier for the both of us"
Why is there "would" after "if"? It has to be an exception because normally you can't do it.
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"Must have" in hypothetical situations
I am not a native English speaker.
Can we use "must have" when we want to express a regret about something in the past that did not happen?
For example:
If I had come earlier, I must have ...
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Past Perfect tense in "if clause" type 3
"If he had come here yesterday at 5 p.m., he might have seen his sister."
What does this sentence mean and which situation do I imagine with this sentence?
Do I imagine the situation that he came ...
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"Were he able to go, he would have gone" is this correct?
I would like to know whether the sentence "Were he able to go, he would have gone" is correct in English.
Or shall I always say " If he were able to go, he would have done so"?
I ...
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Third conditional statements
How does the third "if" conditional statement affect the present since it is used for events that cannot be changed in the past? E.g., "if you had known, you would have done the work last week."
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As if she wasn't/As if she weren't
In the phrase below:
No one pays her any attention. They don’t even look at her direction, as if she weren’t there.
Is 'weren't' correct or should I change it to 'wasn't'?
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Could have been
I am intrigued by something I have tried to translate from German to English.
I intend to say that I had to write an exam (a translation) once which I couldn´t really prepare for other than trying to ...
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Use of would with type 1 conditionals
This is regarding the use of 'would' inside type 1 conditional.
From: Britannica: How to Use "Could," "Would," and "Should"
Example 1: If we invite him, Adam would ...
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Second Conditional
If Jack could teach any type of student, he would choose business students.
I have been told that this is the second conditional. However, I am confused as the form for the second conditional is If +...
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Is this passive verb construction & condition wrong?
Sentence itself: [Enemy] uses that spell when was attacked by any Ice spell.
I am wondering, is that construction sounds "good" in English, or native speaker would rather use different tense/aspect ...
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What tense to use when a subjunctive mood sentence has nested clauses
Consider the following sentence:
If I knew what the problem ___, I would be able to help you better.
Should the verb be "is" or "was"?
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"Assuming we are to..." vs "Assuming we were to"
I've been doing some exercises lately when one thing struck me:
Miss Baiocci would, I am sure, be a real asset to your organisation, knowing as she does a great deal about the way a company such as ...
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Difference between subjunctive and conditional
I am a Spanish speaker. Recently I found the following sentence in linguee.com:
I had never been married and I was sure that I would never find anyone who would love and accept me, especially...
I ...
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"If I knew what you want/wanted to eat tonight"
Context:
I am talking to my friends, trying to find out what she wants to eat tonight.
"What do you want to eat tonight?"
"You know what I want to eat."
"If I knew what you wanted to eat, I ...
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Conditionals: "if after all," "if after life," and "as if I'm/I was/I were"
Does the use of "if after" change nothing with the rules of if-conditionals?
Are these sentences okay?
If after all we'll do will make no effect, then why are we still trying?
If after all ...
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What's the difference between "If I had done" and "If I did"?
If I had known she was coming, Id have come too.
1st Question: I really understand this sentence but what if I say it like “If I knew she (would come or not or was coming or not?), I'd come too.”
Am ...
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If you would not date yourself
A current trend on TikTok is captioned: "If you would not date yourself, you should lower your standards."
The sentence makes sense to me and seems grammatical. However, I keep telling ...
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Manage or will manage
In exam (Egyptian GSEC English exam)
If you are a well-organized person, you (manage/will manage)
This question was in my exam, I already answered it "will manage", I want to know the ...
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Past tense of "Would like to"
When someone wants to ask politely for something, they use “would like to” structure. For example:
“I would like to try on this jacket, please.”
I wonder if this structure has past tense. I know ...
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Can the following sentence (without if) be regarded as a conditional type 2 sentence?
I was wondering if the following question can be regarded a conditional sentence of the 2nd type:
To hear some men talk, you'd think that women belonged to a different
species!
In fact the sentence ...
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Past perfect usage in hypothetical statement
On Quora, I've run into such a sentence where the author describes a hypothetical situation if astronauts wore unsuitable space suits on the Moon:
At about this time, they’d realize that the sides ...
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Confused between "If I had had more time" and "If I had more time"
If I had had more time, I would have solved the puzzle. [Past unreal/Past+Past]
(I did not have more time so I did not solve the puzzle.)
If I had more time, I would have solved the puzzle. [Mixed ...
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Tense simplification in the present or future irrealis conditionals
PEU1 580 tense simplification in subordinate clauses
Past (form) instead of would...
Would, like will, is avoided in subordinate clauses; instead, we
generally use past verbs. This ...
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Why use Type 3 structure for a present situation: "They would have had lots of training...." instead of "They have had lots of training."
This is from a BBC video, in which people in a spacecraft are shown when they are allowed to unbuckle to experience the zero gravity in a spacecraft. People in a spacecraft (see:00:24-00:30). The ...
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Can the "for" starts a sentence and becomes the integral sentence?
There is a sentence in the the economist, but it seems not correct:
For there are worse things for a polity than to be led by a cheerful, pragmatic and dedicated leader.
"For" guides a ...
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What is the correct tense for the result clause where the conditional clause is in the form "If sb/sth had"?
I came across an article on conditional sentences on Grammarly.com (https://www.grammarly.com/blog/conditional-sentences-was-instead-of-were/) where the two sentences below are given as correct:
If I ...
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Can you reword conditional setence in subjunctive and still retain the same meaning?
For example
If he were alive today, he would've supported the independence movement.
Here the speaker is talking about somebody who has passed away in a present interview. Wouldn't it be more ...
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Why can't I use a past perfect tense in this condition part?
the sentence is:
If you didn't want to buy that shirt you shouldn't have bought it ('didn't' - it's a past simple not a second conditional, watch the video by the link above)
Question:
When can I ...
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Difference between "the number of people you would have thought" OR "the number of people you would think"?
This from the BBC website Lost wallet found 5 years on
It is about a story in which somebody lost his wallet 5 years ago after he watched a game in a rugby stadium, and it was found 5 years later. ...
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"X and Y" implies conditional
Sequential disasters can also reinforce each other. Heat, droughts and flooding are often connected: hot air picks up more moisture; dry out soil enough and water will run off it like concrete. (From ...
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Reported speech sentence
The sentence goes: If you do not do it by Friday, you will be punished.
What is the reported speech of the above sentence please? Is it:
She said if I did not do it by Friday I would be punished
She ...
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Zero conditional sentence with "can"
The normal zero conditional sentence has this structure with either "if" or "when", and uses the present simple in both sides:
A happens if/when B happens.
My question is, can I ...
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Can someone explain this conditional? (Past simple + past perfect)
I've just come across one conditional that I don't quite understand.
If what she said was true, Marilyn had almost certainly left town last night.
I understand that the first part of the sentence is ...
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Correcting conditional sentences
If we had the confidence he did not commit the crime we would have said so.
I read this sentence somewhere, shouldn't it be:
If we had had the confidence he had not commited the crime we would
...
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How to use 'I learned that if I faced' in its reported-speech kind of context
It is said that in reported speech, verbs tense will change. Also, when using 'if', verb tenses change. So what is the correct form of the below sentence?
I learned that if I faced another question ...
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Conditional Sentence(simple present mode or future tense)
Would you please tell me if I use "If you will be selected*" instead of "If you are selected", does it make sense? Would please tell me the differences between these two tenses?
Thank you for your ...
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Why is the past perfect tense used in the following sentence?
from The Economist (https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/08/25/the-way-forward-on-immigration-to-the-west?cid1=cust/ednew/n/bl/n/2018/08/23n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/na/146317/n)
A sensible approach ...
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If...were to, would/Present Simple Tense? [duplicate]
If her dream of being naked in front of Simon were to come true – and she knew, somehow, that it would – she needed to be the
sveltest version of herself that had ever existed. Fries wouldn't help
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Ask to do, could and could have done
We were playing a game. A random person was given a word and that person had to "make" or "come up" with a question with the help of that word. That person could [then] ask* that question to anyone.
...
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"I would follow you if that is what you wanted" Why is "would" used here? [duplicate]
God knows that I would follow you if that is what you wanted.
This is a quote from a song called "God knows" (from an anime, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya).
Why is "would" is ...
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Can it happen to be an unconventional usage of "would+Perfect Infinitive"?
Of course, there has been a raft of questions and answers about how to use the construction would+Perfect Infinitive but one I have stumbled across on the Internet plunged me into bewilderment.
I have ...
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Unreal vs Real situations
If you were not blind, you would have avoided the other car.
This is unreal. I want to know what is the "corresponding" real situation:
If you are not blind, you will have avoided the ...
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If I knew where she <lived><lives> now, I'd go and see her
(1) If I knew where she lived now, I'd go and see her.
(2) If I knew where she lives now, I'd go and see her.
[Question] Which is correct?
I think that (1) is correct, but a Japanese teacher of ...
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