ZERO
CONDITIONALS
FIRST
CONDITIONALS
& TIME CLAUSES
CONDITIONAL
SENTENCES
O Conditional Sentences are also known as
Conditional Clauses or If Clauses.
O They are used to express that the
action in the main clause
(without if) can only take place if a
certain condition (in the clause
with if) is fulfilled.
ZERO CONDITIONALS
O Zero conditionals are used to talk about
things that are always true as long as
the condition occurs.
If you heat water, it boils.
If I have coffee after 6pm, I don´t
sleep
ZERO CONDITIONALS
Zero Conditional sentences are formed as follows:
IF Present Simple
Present simple
ZERO CONDITIONALS
O This use is similiar to, and can usually be
replaced by, a time clause using ‘when’.
If I am late for the school bus, my
father takes me to school.
When I am late for the school
bus, my father takes me to school.
FIRST CONDITIONALS
First Conditional sentences express a possible
condition and its probable result in the future.
CONDITION
RESULT
If you don’t revise,
you’ll fail.
If you stay,
I’ll leave.
FIRST CONDITIONALS
We can use the First Conditional to express
different functions:
Careful!, If you touch that, you’ll
get burnt.
A warning
If you do that again, I’ll kill you.
A threat
FIRST CONDITIONALS
I’ll post the letter if you like.
An offer
If you lend me the money, I’ll kiss you.
A promise
FIRST CONDITIONALS
First Conditional sentences are formed as follows:
will
IF Present Simple
Be going to
can/must
FIRST CONDITIONALS
Examples:
O If you go to Greece for your holidays, I can
recommend a great hotel.
O If you aren’t here by ten, you’ll miss the bus.
O If you arrive early, we are going to see a film.
FIRST CONDITIONALS
THINGS TO CONSIDER:
O The main clause and the if-clause can often go in
either order:
O If I feel like going out, I’ll give you a call.
O I’ll give you a call if I feel like going out.
O Use a comma after the if-clause.
TIME CLAUSES
O Time clauses and conditional sentences have
something in common:
O Conjunctions of time
O as soon as
O when
O until
O before
O after
are always followed by a present,
even though the time reference
is future.
TIME CLAUSES
EXAMPLES:
O I’ll phone you when I get home.
O As soon as I’ve finished reading the book,
I’ll lend it to you.
O Don’t press that button until I tell you.
O Before I get to work, I always have a coffee at
Starbuck’s.
O I’ll go shopping after he takes the children
to school.
“If” or “in case”?
“In case” is not exactly equivalent to “if”.
Consider these examples:
I´ll take a jacket if it´s cold.
It means I´ll take a jacket only if it´s cold.
I´ll take a jacket in case it´s cold.
I´ll take a jacket anyway because it might get cold
later.
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