Idioma

UNIVERSIDAD YACAMBU
FACULTAD DE HUMANIDADES
DEPARTAMENTO DE ESTUDIOS GENERALES

Guía Didáctica (Conditional Sentences)

Elaborado por: Prof. Luis Chávez y Profa. Rosana Chacón
Asignatura:Idioma Avanzado

Conditional sentences play an important role in grammar. On this page I'll try to point out the most important facts about them.

Conditional sentences have two parts: theif-clause and the main clause. In the sentence If it rains, I will stay at home, "if it rains" is the if-clause, and "I will stay at home" is the main clause.
When studying conditionals, there twoways to go:
a) this method of studying/ teaching is intended for beginners. It narrows the number of types of conditionals down to four:

Zero Conditional:

The zero conditional is used whendescribing situations which have automatic or habitual results (=general truths). The probability of the result is 100%.
• If you heat ice, it melts." (will melt is also possible)
• Ifthere is a shortage of any product, prices of that product go up.
• My parents get angry if I come home late.
As you can see, both the main clause and the if clause are in the Present Simple.
Thezero conditional is often used to give instructions:
• Press the button if you want a receipt.
• If you want to leave a message, speak after the tone.
First Conditional:

We usethe First Conditional to talk about a future situation that is possible.
The verb in the if-clause is in the present tense; the verb in the main clause is in the future simple. It doesn't matter whichcomes first. There is usually a comma between the two clauses.
• If you try very hard, you'll see the difference.
• John will be late, if you don't lend him your car.
This type ofsentence implies that the action is very probable.
Note that the meaning here is present or future, but the main verb in the if-clause is in a present, not future tense.

Second Conditional:

We use...