Conditional Sentences Part (II):
What’s the difference in the meaning between the following sentences? When do we use each form?
(21)
The older men would find it difficult to get a job if they left the farm
The older men will find it difficult to get a job if they leave
The older men will find it difficult to get a job if they left
(22)
I should be surprised if it was less than five pounds
I should be surprised if it were less than five pounds
(23)
if you are in doubt, ask at your local library
if you were in doubt, ask at your local library
(24)
Whether I agreed or not, the search would take place
Whether I agreed or not, the search will take place
Whether I agree or not, the search will take place
(25)
Will he come if I shout?
Will he come if I shouted?
Would he come if I shouted?
(26)
Will you have enough time?
Would you have enough time?
(27)
He would come if you called
He would have come if you had called
He will come if you call
(28)
if I get an invitation, I’ll go there right away
if I got an invitation, I would go there right away
(29)
if it gets cold tonight, I will turn on the heating
if it got cold tonight, I would turn on the heating
(30)
I shouldn’t get to sleep at all if I lived next to that noise
I wouldn’t get to sleep at all if I lived next to that noise
I shouldn’t get to sleep at all if I live next to that noise
---------------------------------------------------
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:
"I'm sure that he'll be here tomorrow. And if he ______ here tomorrow, she'll have a chance to meet him."
Adrian: some of the sentecnces are just incorrect. As to the question, you could find a lot of info in the internet. Just type something like "English Conditional grammar" in
www.Google.com.
In short:
About the future: If it rains tomorrow, we'll postpone the picknick.
Unreal (improbable) or imaginary situation in the present or future: "If someone tried to blackmail me I would tell the police" or:
"If I were you, I would act just like you are planning to"
An unrealized alternative in the past: «If I had studied better (but I didn't) I would (NOW) know the answer (But I don't know it) or:
«If had went out five minutes earlier (But I went out too late), I would have arrived in time (yesterday) (whereas in reality I was late)»
gilberto1: I am not a native and I'd use "comes" or "is". No rules, I really feel this way.
<<The older men would find it difficult to get a job if they left the farm.
The older men will find it difficult to get a job if they leave.
The older men will find it difficult to get a job if they left.>>
#3 is wrong. #1 and #2 are both good, and they basically mean the same thing. #1 has more of a hypothetical sense, whereas #2 gives me a more of a sense of probability and immediacy.
<<I should be surprised if it was less than five pounds.
I should be surprised if it were less than five pounds.>>
"Should" isn't technically wrong, but it sounds stilted and old-fashioned to me. "Would" is what I would naturally use here. "Was" and "were" are both acceptable in this sentence; "was" sounds more informal, and it would be more common in British English.
<<If you are in doubt, ask at your local library.
If you were in doubt, ask at your local library.>>
#1 is correct, #2 is wrong.
<<Whether I agreed or not, the search would take place.
Whether I agreed or not, the search will take place.
Whether I agree or not, the search will take place.>>
#2 is wrong, #1 and #3 are correct. #1 refers to a past situation; here, "would" is synonymous with "was going to". #3, of course, refers to a search that will take place in the future.
<<Will he come if I shout?
Will he come if I shouted?
Would he come if I shouted?>>
#1 is correct, #2 is wrong. #3 is correct, and it means basically the same thing as #1, but it has more of an air of hypotheticality. I think you'd be much more likely to hear #1 than #3.
<<Will you have enough time?
Would you have enough time?>>
#1 is a simple question of fact; #2 is a conditional question. #1 means, "Are you going to have enough time?", whereas #2 means, "Would you have enough time if [condition]?"
<<He would come if you called.
He would have come if you had called.
He will come if you call.>>
All of these are correct. #1 and #3 basically mean the same thing; but #1 has an air of hypotheticality (as if it's unlikely that "you" actually will call); whereas #3 has an air of probability and immediacy. #2 refers to a condition that existed, and failed to be fulfilled, in the past.
<<If I get an invitation, I’ll go there right away.
If I got an invitation, I would go there right away.>>
Both correct, both basically the same. #1 has immediacy and probability, #2 has hypotheticality.
<<I shouldn’t get to sleep at all if I lived next to that noise.
I wouldn’t get to sleep at all if I lived next to that noise.
I shouldn’t get to sleep at all if I live next to that noise.>>
#3 is wrong. #1 and #2 are both grammatically correct, but #1 sounds completely stilted, archaic, and unnatural to me and it's something that I would never say. #2 is what I would naturally say.
"Whether I agreed or not, the search will take place." This is not a typical condition, but it is not wrong. It is a simple condition, but with the time reference of the two halves of the sentence in a kind of mismatch.
A: The police have said they will search our home tomorrow!
B: Did you agree to this?
A: Of course not!
B: I think you did.
A: No I did not! What's the use of arguing anyway? Whether I agreed or not, the search will take place.
Similarly with "Will he come if I shouted?"
A: Will he come?
B: Did you shout?
A: Why do you ask? Will he come if I shouted?
and similarly with "The older men will find it difficult to get a job if they left":
A: The dictator has decreed that anyone who left the country two years shall never again be hired in this country.
B: What! Even the young people who didn't know any better?
A: No, for them our clement dictator commutes his sentence; they will again be able to be hired in two years.
B: Well, that's good for the younger men, but the older men will find it difficult to get a job if they left.