future conditionals

gilberto1   Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:10 pm GMT
I have a question for native speakers of English. Please don't answer according to grammar rules. Just tell me what verb form you would naturally use in your everyday spoken or informal written language (even if some might consider it wrong). The question is to complete the following:
"There's no doubt he's going to be here tomorrow. And if he ______ here, she'll have a chance to meet him."
zzz   Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:28 pm GMT
"There's no doubt he's going to be here tomorrow. And if he is here, she'll have a chance to meet him."
Guest   Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:28 pm GMT
If he comes here, she'll have a chance to meet him."
Lazar   Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:35 pm GMT
"And if he comes here, she'll have a chance to meet him."
Ant_222   Sun Feb 04, 2007 8:22 pm GMT
Sorry, I missed you had asked your question in a separate thread.

Compare and see the difference:

1. What will you say when he comes? — Present Simple
2. Do you know when he will come? — Future Simple

HTH
Jim   Sun Feb 04, 2007 11:47 pm GMT
What I thought of first was "is". I wouldn't, however, give the thumbs down to "comes".
Travis   Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:33 am GMT
Besides the use of "comes", which works in this particular instance but is not as generally applicable, I myself would just use "is" here.
gilberto1   Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:47 pm GMT
Couldn't one say the following?
"There's no doubt he's going to be here tomorrow. And if he's going to be here, she'll have a chance to meet him."
If not, why?
Guest   Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:38 pm GMT
Your suggested sentence sounds monotonous and repetitive. "he's going to be here" is repeated in both setences and sounds wordy. Though it may put across the idea to the listener.

I hope it helps.
gilberto1   Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:12 pm GMT
Then let's change the sentece to:
'You say he'll certainly come. Well, if he'll be here tomorrow, she'll have a chance to meet him.'
Isn't this a way of showing that the speaker has accepted as a fact that he'll be here tomorrow, and is drawing a conclusion from this premise?