CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

Conditional sentences bring the idea that there is a kind of contradictions between what a speaker has in his mind and the true reality happens in life. These situations bring the speaker to wish something that is the opposite of the reality. The wish could be possible becoming reality or not possible to happen now, or even impossible because it has passed through.

Another use of conditional sentences is to indicate a general truth. That is something that always happens under certain condition. This last function makes the divisions of conditional sentences becomes four groups.

Physically, conditional sentences can be divided into two parts; the If-Clause and the Result Clause. The If-Clause contains the wish that the speaker wants to be different. It is the event that he is expecting to be different. The Result Clause is the clause where the product of the wish should be placed. It is the where all modals are placed. It can be said that the modals will always appear in this clause, but never in the If-Clause.

1.    Type 0: Zero Conditionals

This type of conditional is used to express scientific facts or general truths; they are something that always occurs under certain situation.

Examples:

a.     Water boils if it is heated for one hundred Celsius degrees.

It is true since we always find water boils in such temperature. None of any places in the world can deny it.

b.     If I more tropical rain forest are cut, the earth I gets hotter.

The forests are logically cooling the earth.

This type of conditional takes two simple present sentences connected by an if with specific meaning it bears.

The formula is:

IF + SIMPLE PRESENT + SIMPLE PRESENT

OR

IF + (S + V₁ + O/C) + (S + V₁ + O/C)

2.    Type I : True to the fact in the Present of Future

This sentence indicates about something that is possible to happen in the present of future when the condition is fulfilled. The formula is always using simple future modal to indicate the possibility of the action to happen in the future. This is also the function of conditional sentence which brings intention in the sentence.

Examples:

a.     If the weather is nice tomorrow, I will go camping.

b.     The enterprise will get a lot of loss if they are late delivering their products.

The formula is:

IF + SIMPLE PRESENT + SIMPLE FUTURE

OR

IF + (S + V₁ + O/C) + (S + WILL+ BASE + O/C)

In some situations, the formula for the possibility is also stated in some other tenses. It means that we can use other tenses out of simple present tense. The meaning of the sentence could either stay the same as intention or change into imperative or modal (ability, permission, conclusion, etc.)

Examples:

Imperative

·          If she has moved to her new apartment, visit her.

·          If you think the book is good, buy it.

Modals:

·          If the book is a must in your study, you can buy it.

·          If my legs are fine, I can run faster than this.

Intention:

·          If they open the auction for the painting, I will buy them.

·          If she is smoking, I will punish her.

3.    Type II : Contrary to the Fact in the Present

The conditional sentences are stating that the present reality is currently not true or appears unlikely to be true. It means that the reality must be the false statement to the wish the speaker has. In another way of saying, when the speaker states the sentence, we know that the reality is not in such statement. This brings the idea that the speaker wants to deny the reality he is facing.

To state such conditions, the combination of simple past and past future tense or past modals

The formula is:

IF + SIMPLE PAST + PAST FUTURE

OR

IF + (S + V₂ + O/C) + (S + WOULD + BASE + O/C)

OR

IF + (S + WERE + O/C) + (S + WOULD + BASE + O/C)

Examples:

a.     If I had much money, I would buy a new car.

At the moment, I don’t have much money, so I don’t buy any new car.

b.     The students would feel so sad if they failed the test.

It is important to remember that when we use this type of conditional along with helping verbs BE to state a status as the example above presented, Were is used to all subjects of the sentence.

Examples:

a.     If I were not here, you would be fooled by them.

b.     If she were my girl, I would never make her cry.

The verb was for subjects I, he, she, or other third person singular subjects can be also used in this kind of sentence, but only in colloquial situations.

4.    Type III: Contrary to the Fact in the Past.

The next type of conditional is talking about something that did not happen in the past. The past situation brings effect to the past so the speaker puts a wish hat is contradicted to the past conditions. It is sometimes used to express a regret as it is express when we a using perfect modal SHOULD HAVE.

The Formula is:

IF + PAST PERFECT + PAST FUTURE PERFECT

OR

IF + (S + HAD + V₃ + O/C) + (S + WOULD+ HAVE + V₃+ O/C)

Examples:

a.     If she had known the secret, the company would have fallen down.

(Since she did not know the secret, the company did not fall down.)

b.     If I had noticed it earlier, I would have had him arrested.

From the semantics point of view, we can easily identify the difference among the four types of conditional presented above. The Type 0 Conditional states the habitual or naturally fixed occasion events happened if the condition is fulfilled. It is said that the matters it was presented are the general truths.

The Type 1 Conditional and Type 2 Conditional are talking about something that is possible or probable come true in the present or future.

On the other hand, Type 3 Conditional is talking about something that is not possible to be true anymore since the condition did not happen in the past. So, it is impossible to turn back the time.