CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

Conditional sentences are linguistics expressing factual Implications, or Hypotesis situations and their Material conditional. They are so called because the validity of the Main clause of the sentence is conditional on the existence of certain circumstances, which may be expressed in a Dependent clause or may be understood from the context.

A full conditional sentence (one which expresses the condition as well as its consequences) therefore contains two Clause: the dependent clause expressing the condition, called the protasis; and the main clause expressing the consequence, called the apodosis. An example of such a sentence (in English grammar) is the following:

If it rains, the picnic will be cancelled.

Here the condition is expressed by the clause if it rains, this being the protasis, while the consequence is expressed by the picnic will be cancelled, this being the apodosis. (The protasis may either precede or follow the apodosis; it is equally possible to say "The picnic will be cancelled if it rains".) In terms of Logic, the protasis corresponds to the Antecedent (logic), and the apodosis to the Consequent.

Languages use a variety of grammatical forms and constructions in conditional sentences. The forms of verb used in the protasis and apodosis are often subject to particular rules as regards their grammatical tense and grammatical mood. Many languages have a specialized type of verb form called the conditional mood – broadly equivalent in meaning to the English "would (do something)" – for use in some types of conditional sentence.

Conditional Sentence Type 1

→ It is possible and also very likely that the condition will be fulfilled.

Form: if + simpe present, will-future

Example: If I find her address, I’ll send her an invitation.

Form

if + Simple Present, will-Future

Example: If I find her address, I will send her an invitation.

The main clause can also be at the beginning of the sentence. In this case, don't use a comma.

Example: I will send her an invitation if I find her address.

Note: Main clause and / or if clause might be negative. See Simple Present und Will-Future on how to form negative sentences.

Example: If I don’t see him this afternoon, I will phone him in the evening.

 

 

Use

Conditional Sentences Type I refer to the future. An action in the future will only happen if a certain condition is fulfilled by that time. We don't know for sure whether the condition actually will be fulfilled or not, but the conditions seems rather realistic – so we think it is likely to happen.

Example: If I find her address, I’ll send her an invitation.

I want to send an invitation to a friend. I just have to find her address. I am quite sure, however, that I will find it.

Example: If John has the money, he will buy a Ferrari.

I know John very well and I know that he earns a lot of money and that he loves Ferraris. So I think it is very likely that sooner or later he will have the money to buy a Ferrari.

Conditional Sentence Type 2

→ It is possible but very unlikely, that the condition will be fulfilled.

Form: if + Simple Past, Conditional 1 (= would + Infinitive)

Example: If I found her address, I would send her an invitation.

Form

if + Simple Past, main clause with Conditional I (= would + Infinitive)

Example: If I found her address, I would send her an invitation.

The main clause can also be at the beginning of the sentence. In this case, don't use a comma.

Example: I would send her an invitation if I found her address.

Note: Main clause and / or if clause might be negative. See Simple Past and Conditional 1 on how to form negative sentences.

Example: If I had a lot of money, I wouldn’t stay here.

Were instead of Was

In IF Clauses Type II, we usually use ‚were‘ – even if the pronoun is I, he, she or it –.

Example: If I were you, I would not do this.

Use

Conditional Sentences Type II refer to situations in the present. An action could happen if the present situation were different. I don't really expect the situation to change, however. I just imagine „what would happen if …“

Example: If I found her address, I would send her an invitation.

I would like to send an invitation to a friend. I have looked everywhere for her address, but I cannot find it. So now I think it is rather unlikely that I will eventually find her address.

Example: If John had the money, he would buy a Ferrari.

I know John very well and I know that he doesn't have much money, but he loves Ferraris. He would like to own a Ferrari (in his dreams). But I think it is very unlikely that he will have the money to buy one in the near future.

Conditional Sentence Type 3

→ It is impossible that the condition will be fulfilled because it refers to the past.

Form: if + Past Perfect, Conditional 2 (= would + have + Past Participle)

Example: If I had found her address, I would have sent her an invitation.

Form

if + Past Perfect, main clause with Conditional II

Example: If I had found her address, I would have sent her an invitation.

The main clause can also be at the beginning of the sentence. In this case, don't use a comma.

Example: I would have sent her an invitation if I had found her address.

Note: Main clause and / or if clause might be negative. See Past Perfect and Conditional 2 on how to form negative sentences.

Example: If I hadn’t studied, I wouldn’t have passed my exams.

Use

Conditional Sentences Type III refer to situations in the past. An action could have happened in the past if a certain condition had been fulfilled. Things were different then, however. We just imagine, what would have happened if the situation had been fulfilled.

Example: If I had found her address, I would have sent her an invitation.

Sometime in the past, I wanted to send an invitation to a friend. I didn't find her address, however. So in the end I didn't send her an invitation.

Example: If John had had the money, he would have bought a Ferrari.

I knew John very well and I know that he never had much money, but he loved Ferraris. He would have loved to own a Ferrari, but he never had the money to buy one.

Sumber :

-          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditional_sentence

-          http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/conditional-sentences