22/10/21 18:51 Verbs in time clauses and 'if' clauses | - | LearnEnglish

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Verbs in time clauses and 'if' clauses

Verbs in time clauses and 'if' clauses

Level: beginner

Verbs in time clauses and conditionals usually follow the same patterns as in other
clauses but there are some differences when we:

talk about the future

make hypotheses.

Talking about the future

In time clauses with words like when, after and until, we often use present tense
forms to talk about the future:

I'll come home when I finish work.

You must wait here until your father comes.
They are coming after they have had dinner.

In conditional clauses with words like if, unless, even if, we often use present tense
forms to talk about the future:

We won't be able to go out if it is raining.

I will come tomorrow unless I have to look after the children.
Even if Barcelona lose tomorrow, they will still be champions.

We do not normally use will in time clauses and conditional clauses:

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I'll come home when I finish work. (NOT will finish work)
We won't be able to go out if it rains. (NOT will rain)
It will be nice to see Peter when he gets home. (NOT will get home)
You must wait here until your father comes. (NOT will come)

but we can use will if it means want to or be willing to:

I will be very happy if you will come to my party.

We should finish the job early if George will help us.

Future time and conditional clauses 1

Future time and conditional clauses 2

Level: intermediate

Making hypotheses
Some conditional clauses are like hypotheses, so we use past tense forms.

We use past tense forms to talk about something that does not happen or is not
happening in the present:

He could get a new job if he really tried.

        (= He cannot get a job because he has not tried.)
If Jack was playing, they would probably win.
        (= Jack is not playing so they will probably not win.)
If I had his address, I could write to him.
        (= I do not have his address so I cannot write to him.)

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We use past tense forms to talk about something that we believe or know will not
happen in the future:

We would go by train if it wasn't so expensive.

       (= We will not go by train because it is too expensive.)
I would look after the children for you at the weekend if I was at home.
       (= I cannot look after the children because I will not be at home.)

We use past tense forms to make suggestions about what might happen in the
future:

If he came tomorrow, we could borrow his car.

If we invited John, Mary would bring Angela.

After I/he/she/it, we can use were instead of was:

If Jack was/were playing, they would probably win.

We would go by train if it wasn't/weren’t so expensive.
I would look after the children for you at the weekend if I was/were at home.

We use the past perfect to talk about something which did not happen in the past:

If you had seen him, you could have spoken to him.

        (= You did not see him so you could not speak to him.)
You could have stayed with us if you had come to London.
        (= You could not stay with us because you did not come to London.)
If we hadn't spent all our money, we could take a holiday.
        (= We have spent all our money so we cannot take a holiday.)
If I had got the job, we would be living in Paris.
        (= I did not get the job, so we are not living in Paris.)

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If the main clause of a hypothetical conditional is about the present or future, we use a
modal:

If I had got the job, we might be living in Paris now.

        (= I did not get the job so we are not living in Paris now.)
If you had done your homework, you would know the answer.
        (= You did not do your homework so you do not know the answer.)

If the main clause is about the past, we use a modal with have: 

If I had seen him, I would have spoken to him.

       (= I did not see him so I did not speak to him.)
You could have stayed with us if you had come to London.
       (= You could not stay with us because you did not come to London.)
If you had invited me, I might have come.
       (= You did not invite me so I did not come.)

Hypothetical conditionals: present/future 1

Hypothetical conditionals: present/future 2

Hypothetical conditionals: past 1

Hypothetical conditionals: past 2

‹ Talking about the future (/english-grammar/talking-about-the-future)

Up (/english-grammar/verbs)

Wishes and hypotheses › (/english-grammar/wishes-and-hypotheses)

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Submitted by Nevı on Thu, 13/05/2021 - 13:20

Permalink (/comment/169402#comment-169402)

Hi excellent team!
I am writing to ask for information about 'first conditional'.
When I write a sentence containing first conditional for example;
If you want to
lose weight, you will need to eat less sugar.
Here I don't understand the 'if
clause' (you want to lose weight) refers to future or present.
I mean you will
want to lose weight / you want to lose weight now?
I am asking that question
because I saw following information on my book " In this type of conditional, the
present tenses in the if-clause usually refer to future time and their use is
similar to that in future time clauses."
You'd be doing me a huge favour.
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Submitted by Jonathan R on Fri, 14/05/2021 - 04:02

Permalink (/comment/169415#comment-169415)

Hi Nevı,

It could refer to the present or the future :)

Present: If you want (right now) to lose weight, ...

Future: If you want (at some point in the future) to lose weight, ...

We would need to know the context in which this is said to know which
timeframe is intended.
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Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Nevı on Fri, 14/05/2021 - 10:23

Permalink (/comment/169418#comment-169418)

You've been really helpful, teacher.

However, for example;
My friend
said 'I have excessive fat and want to be more thin'
I can say 'If you
want to lose weight(right now) ,... But another context like
My friend is
pregnant and said' After giving birth, I will not want to be fat'
I can say `If
you want to lose weight (at some point in the future),... Would it be
possible for you to check whether my contexts are true, teacher
Jonathan?
If not could you give me an example contexts. The
LearnEnglish Team teachers and administers are really helping me out.
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Submitted by Kirk on Fri, 14/05/2021 - 16:01

Permalink (/comment/169424#comment-169424)

Hello Nevi,

Yes, it looks as if you understand this correctly. Good work!

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Nevı on Sat, 06/03/2021 - 11:07

Permalink (/comment/166902#comment-166902)

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Hi teacher,
I want to learn one more thing.
In this sentence
"Simon works at
night so he gets home from work when* I get up. "
I saw this sentence while
doing exercise about non-defining relative clauses.
'when' in the sentence
functions relative clause? I think it is conjunction? Sincerely
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Submitted by Peter M. on Sun, 07/03/2021 - 08:47

Permalink (/comment/166981#comment-166981)

Hello Nevı,

In your example when is a conjunction.

You can see similar examples in dictionary entries such as this:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/when (https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/when)

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Gendeng on Fri, 19/02/2021 - 11:52

Permalink (/comment/166115#comment-166115)

If I won the lottery, I would won a new house. In this situation, do I say the
sentence when I'm playing the lottery? Or before the game I say it, sir
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Submitted by Peter M. on Sat, 20/02/2021 - 08:55

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Hello Gendeng,

The sentence implies that the result is not known, so you would say this
before you learn the result. Once the result is known (and you didn't win!),
you would say 'If I had won... I would have...'

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Gendeng on Fri, 26/02/2021 - 08:55

Permalink (/comment/166503#comment-166503)

Thanks, Peter. You said 'would say' instead of will say, what does
'would' mean there?
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Submitted by Nuro on Sat, 23/01/2021 - 09:51

Permalink (/comment/164670#comment-164670)

Hi team,
"might have prepared a better presentation if I had more time." I saw in
this sentence in my book exercise.
I wonder why we didn't say"... if I had had
more time."Because if clause must be past perfect? or this is exception?
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Submitted by Peter M. on Sun, 24/01/2021 - 09:05

Permalink (/comment/164722#comment-164722)

Hi Nuro,
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Both had more time and had had more time are possible here.

We use the past perfect (had + verb3) when we are talking about a
particular situation at a particular time:

I might have prepared a better presentation if I had had more time

(yesterday/last week/this morning).

In other words, 'had had' describes a specific instance of not having time,
not a general situation.

We use the past simple (verb2) when we are making a non-time specific
statement:

I might have prepared a better presentation if I had more time (I am

always/generally short of time; this is simply how my life is).

In other words, 'had' describes something which is generally true of the

speaker's life - they never have time, and the presentation is not as good
as it might be because of this.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Aglaia on Mon, 21/12/2020 - 11:54

Permalink (/comment/162945#comment-162945)

Hello, I have a question with regard to the main clause of first conditionals. Can
we use 1) the present continuous with future meaning and 2) going to + verb,
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again with future meaning? Ex.: If it rains, the race is going to be cancelled.
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Submitted by Peter M. on Tue, 22/12/2020 - 09:02

Permalink (/comment/162985#comment-162985)

Hello Aglaia,

Yes, you can use a range of future forms in the main clause. Will indicates
a conditional prediction; going to, a conditional plan; present continuous, a
conditional arrangement. Other modals are also possible, showing
conditional probability, possibility, advice etc.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Samin on Sat, 07/11/2020 - 14:20

Permalink (/comment/160692#comment-160692)

Hello Can you tell me the answer please

Which one is correct There's/ there
are no furniture in this room
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Submitted by Kirk on Sat, 07/11/2020 - 14:51

Permalink (/comment/160695#comment-160695)

Hello Samin,

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'furniture' is an uncount noun (https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-

grammar-reference/uncount-nouns) and so 'there is' is the correct verb form
here.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Risa warysha on Wed, 28/10/2020 - 11:36

Permalink (/comment/160205#comment-160205)

Hallo sir,
Can I use 'if' for replacement of 'when' or 'as'
~ if he didn't work
yesterday, he was probably ill.
~ as he didnt work yesterday, he was probably
ill.
Are those sentences the same? If so, is there any reference for the
grammar? Thank you, sir
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Submitted by Peter M. on Thu, 29/10/2020 - 07:32

Permalink (/comment/160242#comment-160242)

Hello Risa warysha,

All of the words (if, when and as) are possible in this example, but the
meaning changes.

If tells us that you are not sure whether or not the man was working
yesterday.

When tells us that you know he was not working, but are not sure whether
or not he was ill.

As tells us that you are drawing a conclusion (that he was ill) from the fact
that he was not working yesterday.

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Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Via on Wed, 21/10/2020 - 00:24

Permalink (/comment/159743#comment-159743)

Hello team,
I've several questions.
e.g, I would not have asked her to come into
work if I she was so ill.
From the previous sentence, I think the main clause is
talking about the present, why 'have' is used?
e.g, We would have a lot more
money nowadays if our flat hadn't been so expensive.
I think the main clause is
also related to present, why 'have' is used? Can I rewrite the sentences to:
e.g,
We would get a lot of money nowadays if our flat hadn't been so expensive.
OR
e.g, We might get a lot of money nowadays if our flat hadn't been so expensive.
Thanks a lot.
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Submitted by gsg238 on Sat, 17/10/2020 - 01:03

Permalink (/comment/159469#comment-159469)

I find this sentence odd: You could have stayed with us if you had come to
London.
Why it's not: You could have stayed with us if you had came to
London.
And can I say: You could have stayed with us had came to London.
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Submitted by Jonathan R on Sun, 18/10/2020 - 04:37

Permalink (/comment/159527#comment-159527)

Hi gsg238,
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The first sentence is actually the correct one :)

In the second sentence, we can't say if you had came because after had, it

must be the past participle form of the verb (come = past participle; came =
past simple). This is a past perfect structure (see this page
(https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-
intermediate/past-perfect) for more examples and explanation).

In the third sentence, the subject (you) is needed. It can't be omitted from
the if-clause. We also need to add if. 

Alternatively, we can use this more formal form without if and with an
inversion: You could have stayed with us had you come to London.

Does that make sense?

Best wishes,

Jonathan
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Submitted by OlaIELTS on Tue, 08/09/2020 - 22:49

Permalink (/comment/157182#comment-157182)

The tip is really enormous and useful. Thanks.

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Submitted by Timothy555 on Wed, 26/08/2020 - 14:17

Permalink (/comment/156460#comment-156460)

Hi,
You mentioned that "Verbs in time clauses and conditionals usually follow
the same patterns as in other clauses but there are some differences when we
talk about the future or when we make hypotheses." By this, and with respect
to time clauses, are you simply saying that when using time clauses to refer to
the past, simply use simple past tense (as logically you would expect - for
example "We had dinner before we watched the movie") and similarly use

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simple present tense in a time clause when you are referring to the present. In
other words, we only need to ensure that time clauses referring to future time
are in the simple present tense?
Regards,
Tim
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Submitted by Kirk on Wed, 26/08/2020 - 15:27

Permalink (/comment/156464#comment-156464)

Hello Tim,

Yes, that's right. When speaking about the past you could also use the past
perfect or the past continuous, and when speaking about the present, the
present continuous is also possible, but in these cases they are used in the
normal way -- that is, not like the use of the present simple to speak about
the future, for example.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Harry de ZHANG on Fri, 31/07/2020 - 09:29

Permalink (/comment/154688#comment-154688)

Hi everyone,
I find this article rather confusing at some point. For example,
when explaining how to use past tense to talk about something that didn't
happen in the past, they made an example as "If I had got the job, we would be
living in Paris." In the following part they made a similar sentence to explain
how to structure a hypothetical conditional that is about the present or future as
"If I had got the job, we might be living in Paris now." Could anyone tell me how
different are these two sentences regarding the time reference? To me, they
could both refer something that happens in the present. Am I right?
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Submitted by Kirk on Fri, 31/07/2020 - 16:35

Permalink (/comment/154707#comment-154707)

Hello Harry de ZHANG,

Both sentences do refer to a hypothetical present time. The difference

between the two sentences lies in the modal verb. 'would be living' states
that in that hypothetical situation (in which I got the job -- in reality I did not
get the job), we are definitely now living in Paris. 'might be living in Paris
now' states that in that hypothetical situation, perhaps we are living in Paris
and perhaps we are not.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

 
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Submitted by Harry de ZHANG on Mon, 03/08/2020 - 04:14

Permalink (/comment/154856#comment-154856)

Hi Kirk,
Now I understand the nuance between the two sentences.
Thank you so much for the explanation! You are a big help!
Apart from
this question, I think there might be a mistake in this article. If you would
look at the first part that talks about the future, you might find an
example sentence as written as "You must wait here until you father
comes." I think it should be "your father" instead of "you father." But I
could be wrong.
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Submitted by Kirk on Mon, 03/08/2020 - 13:11

Permalink (/comment/154893#comment-154893)
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Permalink (/comment/154893#comment 154893)

Hello Harry de ZHANG,

I'm glad that helped you! 

And thanks for pointing out that error to us -- you are right and I
have fixed the error.

Best wishes,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Aabida on Sat, 18/07/2020 - 06:19

Permalink (/comment/153726#comment-153726)

Hey dear
For example I have not had much idea about someone else.
But I can
tell some possiblities about that person.
For example I have to tell about Jon to
his girlfriend. I can only predict Jon's behaviour, but do not know the exact truth
whether that condition really happened or not in the past.
For example My
prediction is: If Jon had beaten his boss (in the past) the surely he will beat his
boss(in the future)
But If Jon had not beaten his boss, then he will not beat him
in the furture.
So this is my prediction about Jon's behaviour because I know
him very well. So I can only tell possibilities to his girlfriend about Jon's
behaviour. Exactly both I and his girfriend don't know about Jon's mishap with
his boss. We are just predicting.
Please help me sir about this
situation.Reagrds
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Submitted by Jonathan R on Sun, 19/07/2020 - 04:11

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Hi Aabida,
Yes, that makes sense. But in the 'if' clause, it should be 'If Jon
has beaten ...', using present perfect (not past perfect). The past perfect
('had beaten') is for a past event that took place earlier than another
defined past time, but there isn't one here. See our Past perfect page for
more details: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-
to-upper-intermediate/past-perfect
You could also write this as a single
sentence, as with your other question:
- Whether Jon will beat his boss (in
future) depends on whether he has beaten him (in the past).
If you want to
show clearly that you're speculating, you could add a phrase like 'I guess'
or 'probably'.
Does that make sense?
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
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Submitted by Aabida on Sat, 18/07/2020 - 05:49

Permalink (/comment/153725#comment-153725)

Hello dear,
Please clear my doubt if this is conditional or not.
For example
If I
say that if I had kept my promise (if I am telling about conditions in the past)
I
will never break it ( in the future).
But If I had not kept it in the past then there
might be chances to break it in future. So it mainly depends upon the
conditions happened in the past.
My query is : are these sentences can be
joined in a single sentence by using conditional? If conditional then how to
write it?
Please help me. Thanks in advance.
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Submitted by Jonathan R on Sun, 19/07/2020 - 04:01

Permalink (/comment/153801#comment-153801)

Hi Aabida,
It's possible to join these two sentences using a single sentence
if you reword them. - Whether I keep my promise in the future depends on
whether I've kept it until now / in the past.
Does that express your meaning?
It also works as two sentences. I might say something like this:
- If I've kept
my promise (until now), I'll never break it.
- If I've broken my promise, I might
break it again (in future).
You could use 'but' to join these as one sentence.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
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Submitted by Elo on Sat, 11/07/2020 - 03:30

Permalink (/comment/153279#comment-153279)

Last doubt: Is this clause possible: "Maybe I can help you if you tell me what is
wrong."? If so, isn't the version bellow in the past tense? "Maybe I could help
you if you told me what was wrong." The last is placed in the exercise about
the present/future.
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Submitted by Peter M. on Sat, 11/07/2020 - 07:15

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Hello again Elo,

The sentence is not about the past. We use the past form to describe a
hypothetical present or future which we see as impossible or unlikely. In
your sentence, the speaker thinks it unlikely that the other person will tell
them what is wrong and so uses a past form (told) to express this.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Elo on Tue, 14/07/2020 - 03:27

Permalink (/comment/153476#comment-153476)

Now I got it. I have just read the next lesson about "Hypothesis" and this
topic is explored there. Thanks again!
L i (/ /l i ?d ti ti / li h / b i ti l d if l %23 t
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Submitted by Elo on Sat, 11/07/2020 - 03:22

Permalink (/comment/153278#comment-153278)

I'm in doubt about a clause in the exercise Hypothetical conditionals:

present/future 1. It says "if it was A JUST little bit cheaper." Should it not say: "if
it was JUST A little bit cheaper."?
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Submitted by Peter M. on Sat, 11/07/2020 - 07:12

Permalink (/comment/153292#comment-153292)

Hello Elo,

You are quite right - well spotted! We've corrected this mistake in the
exercise.

Thanks again,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Elo on Sat, 11/07/2020 - 02:59

Permalink (/comment/153276#comment-153276)

Hello!
In the clause:
"If Jack was playing, they would probably win."
Could it be
written:
"If Jack was playing, they would probably have won."?
Thank you!
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Submitted by Peter M. on Sat, 11/07/2020 - 07:10

Permalink (/comment/153291#comment-153291)

Hello Elo,

The second sentence is not possible because it puts the result (would have
won) before the cause (was playing). You would need to say If Jack had
played... for the sentence to be logically coherent.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Elo on Tue, 14/07/2020 - 03:22

Permalink (/comment/153475#comment-153475)

That makes a lot of sense! Thanks!

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Submitted by VegitoBlue on Sun, 28/06/2020 - 14:14

Permalink (/comment/152389#comment-152389)

Your article mentions that "Verbs in time clauses and conditionals usually follow
the same patterns as in other clauses but there are some differences when we
talk about the future/make hypotheses." Does this mean that, apart from talking
about the future/making hypotheses, if for example we are talking about the
past, we simply follow the same usual grammatical rules as we do when
creating regular simple past sentences, for example "He came home after he
finished work." ?
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Submitted by Kirk on Mon, 29/06/2020 - 16:07

Permalink (/comment/152497#comment-152497)

Hello magnuslin,

Yes, that's the idea.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Dukul on Sat, 23/05/2020 - 11:19

Permalink (/comment/149889#comment-149889)

Why is "would" used instead of "will" in these following sentences?

1) ...some
government officials and financial investors are beginning to worry that the
Chinese currency may also be devalued. If that happens, it would likely start a
new round of further devaluations in Thailand, Indonesia, and other countries
that compete with China.
2) He told the Sunday Herald that if the court decides
not to sit on Fridays, he would support the decision.
3) That new customer may
spend thousands of dollars with your company over the next several years. If
that happens, it would really be worth the investment, wouldn't it?
4) ''Are they
really going to shut us down in the middle of the winter?'' he said. ''If they do, it
would be a total social disaster.''
5) Sony is so far behind in the market that it
has been forced to strike a joint venture with Samsung under which the South
Korean company - and rival - would provide it with a steady stream of LCD
panels for TVs that should make it competitive with market leaders.
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Submitted by Smiley1 on Sun, 24/05/2020 - 11:57

Permalink (/comment/149943#comment-149943)

Hi Dukul
I bet "would" in those sentences would be making a hypothesis.?!
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Submitted by CareBears07 on Fri, 22/05/2020 - 15:31

Permalink (/comment/149833#comment-149833)

Hi, I have come across sentences using past tense in if-clause and present
tense in the main clause, such as:
1) A hamster is pregnant for only about three
weeks and up to 20 babies can seemingly appear overnight in a hamster's nest
if you didn't know your hamster was pregnant.
2) Hamsters will eat more when
they are pregnant and nursing, but otherwise their diet will remain the same as
if they weren't.
Are they grammatically correct and do you classify them as
"mixed conditionals"?
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Submitted by Peter M. on Sat, 23/05/2020 - 07:53

Permalink (/comment/149880#comment-149880)

Hi CareBears07,

The first sentence does not read well, I think. It is mixing general
statements about hamsters with a specific and particular situation, which is
inconsistent. You could argue that there is an implied result clause which is
omitted, however:

A hamster is pregnant for only about three weeks and up to 20

babies can seemingly appear overnight in a hamster's nest as they
would/might if you didn't know your hamster was pregnant.

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22/10/21 18:51 Verbs in time clauses and 'if' clauses | - | LearnEnglish

The second example has a hidden result clause. The full sentence would
be as follows:

Hamsters will eat more when they are pregnant and nursing, but
otherwise their diet will remain the same as it would be if they
weren't (pregnant).

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by CareBears07 on Sat, 23/05/2020 - 15:31

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Hi Peter, thanks for your prompt explanation. It seems such omissions

are common in articles using American English, which at times runs in
conflict with the grammar rules of British English. :(
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Submitted by Peter M. on Sun, 24/05/2020 - 07:40

Permalink (/comment/149928#comment-149928)

Hi CareBears07,

I wouldn't say that there is a conflict with the grammatical rules, or

rather I would say that any conflict is only superficial and
disappears on closer inspection and consideration.

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22/10/21 18:51 Verbs in time clauses and 'if' clauses | - | LearnEnglish

Language is a tool for expression and communication. Style is as

much a part of that as grammar. Where omitting phrases or words
causes ambiguity or a lack of clarity it may be problematic (unless
the speaker desires ambiguity), but I don't think either of your
examples were difficult to understand, even if the underlying
grammatical struture was not immediately apparent.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Dean on Wed, 06/05/2020 - 10:46

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Can you Please explain this taken from a TedTalk.

Ideally, you would not be
satisfied until you had actually done the work.
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Submitted by Kirk on Thu, 07/05/2020 - 07:04

Permalink (/comment/148528#comment-148528)

Hello Dean

This sentence is talking about a hypothetical or imaginary situation. This is

clear from the use of 'Ideally' and especially from 'would not be' and 'had
done'. 'had done' refers to an imagined time when the work is already done,
and 'would' refers to a time after that.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Aabida on Wed, 22/04/2020 - 08:05

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Dear, could you tell me more about if +will/would clauses. For example: If
Krystal will meet us at the airport, it will save a lot of time. If you would all stop
laughing, I will explain the situation!
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