‘If’ sentences - Use
“Water turns to ice if the temperature falls below 0 degrees Centigrade.”
We have a scientific fact: water turns to ice.
However, this only happens under a certain condition: ‘if the temperature falls below 100C’. (A condition is “something that has to happen so that something else can happen”.)
The result of this condition is that ‘water turns to ice’.
Sentences like the one above are called ‘conditional’ or ‘if’ sentences.
We use them to talk about a condition that:
1. we see as a fact – it is real. This is called the ‘zero conditional’.
2. we think will (or will probably) happen. This is called the ‘first conditional’.
3. we think might (but is less likely to) happen. This is called the ‘second conditional’.
4. we know definitely won’t happen, because it existed only in the past. This is called the ‘third’conditional’.
1. Zero Conditional
In the sentences below, we see the conditions (and their results) as facts. We could replace ‘if’ with ‘when’.
If subject content and language are not both assessed, the dual focus of CLIL is lost (1).
Assessment of a range of criteria is more useful than focus on a single aspect of learning, and this is made easier if a rubric is used (2).
It is most motivating if the highest grade is shown first (3).
If one of the criteria for a maths task is accurate measurement, students know that this is an important measure of proficency (4).
In these sentences, the the ‘if’ clause is not really a condition.
These kind of ‘if’ sentences are known as Zero Conditional, because there is no condition.
Sometimes Zero Conditionals are used in imperatives:
Don’t study if you don’t want to (“but you’ll be sorry later!...”),
2. Conditional 1
First conditional sentences tell us about conditions (and their results) that we believe are possible (and likely) events.
We can see an example in the following sentence:
If high marks are given for critical thinking, learners can make sure that they are critical in their answer (5).
Another way of saying this is:
If high marks are given for critical thinking, learners will have the opportunity to be critical in their answer (5).
Both ‘will’ and ‘can’ here show a likely outcome.
2. Conditional 2
Second Conditional sentences show us that the speaker is less certain that the condition (and its result) will happen. The speaker feels that it is less likely or improbable:
She can also see that if she worked harder in future, her grade would improve (8).
In this case, we are not sure that ‘she’ will work harder. Maybe she will, but maybe she won’t. We are also not confident of improvement.
If team work was then added to the list of criteria, learners would make the effort to interact (6).
We also know that it is not likely that all teachers will include team work as an area to be assessed, and we are not confident that learners will make try to interact more.
Notice that we have now used two verbs (worked and was added) which are in the Past.
A past tense is used not because the speaker is referring to past time. Instead, this is an example of the ‘Distance from Reality’ that we mentioned in Unit 4 when we spoke about the Past. In that Unit, we said that we use the Past when we think the chance of something happening is distant, that it is only a remote possibility.
Let’s look at these sentences:
If predictions by scientists are correct, global warming will be irreversible by 2030.
If the world acts now, we can avoid catastrophe.
In both these sentences, the verbs show a high possibility or likelihood.
Imagine that you don’t agree with these predictions - 2030 is too soon for this to happen.
The sentences become:
If predictions by scientists were correct, global warming would be irreversible by 2030.
If the world acted now, we could avoid catastrophe.
Notice also that there is also a ‘backshift’ into the past in the second part of the sentence.
We have seen in modals that ‘could’ is used as the past of ‘can’ in ability.
‘Would is also seen as more remote than ‘will’.
3. Conditional 3
What happens when we want to talk about a wish for something in the past to have been different? We cannot go back and change the past, so this ‘wish’ is an impossibility:
Moreover, if a student is given a low grade in one particular category, she knows that if she had focussed more on that area, she would have been more successful (7).
In this sentence, there are two ‘if’ sentences:
a. If a student is given a low grade in one particular category, she knows .....
b. if she had focussed more on that area, she would have been more successful.
The first ‘if’ sentence is a Zero Conditional.
The second sentence describes a condition in the past (she didn’t focus) that we wish had been different.
We know that we can’t change the past. We move the tense even further into the past (had focused) to show the impossibility.
These or Third Conditional sentences show an action that happened and that had an effect in the Past (in Time).
Further examples:
If the USA hadn’t joined the Second World War, the Germans might have won.
If the Panama Canal hadn’t been built, ships would have had to sail around South America to get to the Pacific.
If JP Morgan hadn’t backed Edison, his light bulb wouldn’t have been successful.
4. Mixed Conditionals
Let’s look at these 2 sentences:
If the Americans hadn’t built the Panama Canal, ships would be sailing around South America to get to the Pacific.
If JP Morgan hadn’t backed Edison, we would not have machines like computers today.
Here we have two examples of something that happened in the Past that has an effect NOW.
Since we know the effect now is an impossibility - the past happened and we cannot change it - we use a ‘remote possibility past’ -‘would’.
Notice that we can also use the progressive tenses in ‘if’ sentences.