Tense in conditional sentence

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Anduy

#509203 Sun, 04 May 08 07:23 AM

Find and correct one mistake in the sentence below:

Things will be better if I will get a job and earn some money so I don't have to live with my parents.

My teacher thinks that will get is uncorrect (will get => get).

I think don't have has to be changed to won't have.

Please tell me which is uncorrect. Thank you very much.

Anduy

Joined on Tue, Nov 6 2007

Member (58)

Conditionals, Tenses

Yoong Liat

#509210 Sun, 04 May 08 07:56 AM

Anduy
Find and correct one mistake in the sentence below:
Things will be better if I ~~will~~ get a job and earn some money so I don't have to live with my parents.

My teacher thinks that will get is uncorrect (incorrect) (will get => get).

I think don't have has to be changed to won't have. (Not correct)

Yoong Liat

Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006

Singapore

Forum Guru (5,425)

Yoong Liat

Conditionals, Tenses

Anduy

#509224 Sun, 04 May 08 08:30 AM

Yoong Liat, thank you for correcting me.

But sometimes I also see people use "If I will." Can you tell me in what cases it is acceptable?

Anduy

Conditionals, Tenses

New2grammar

#509229 Sun, 04 May 08 08:46 AM

IMO, if ...will is rare but I think it's possible:

Consider

If you'll listen,you won't always get into trouble ( To me, it sounds like the speaker implies the person he talks to is stubborn.) What do you think, YL?

New2grammar

Joined on Tue, Nov 21 2006

Forum Guru (5,576)

Conditionals, Tenses

Yoong Liat

#509237 Sun, 04 May 08 08:59 AM

Anduy
Yoong Liat, thank you for correcting me.
But sometimes I also see people use "If I will." Can you tell me in what cases it is acceptable?

Here are 3 examples.

I don't know if I will see my children again.

I’m not asking if I will get the email.

I wonder if I will ever write a poem again.

Yoong Liat

Conditionals, Tenses

Takoyaki-English

#509239 Sun, 04 May 08 09:02 AM

Hello.

http://www.eslincanada.com/englishlesson4.html
Future Real Conditional
   If I have money, I will travel.
Future Unreal Conditional
   If I have money, I am going to travel. (I don't know if I will have money or not.)
   If I had money, I would travel. (I won't have money.)

I hope this helps.

Takoyaki-English

Joined on Tue, Apr 29 2008

Japan

Regular Member (119)

Conditionals, Tenses

New2grammar

#509253 Sun, 04 May 08 09:28 AM

Good examples, YL. I totally forgot about them. I was thinking about If + will at the beginning of sentences. Do you think it's possible to start a sentence with if+will like in my previous post?

New2grammar

Conditionals, Tenses

Tanit

#509322 Sun, 04 May 08 11:56 AM

Hi, N2G,

Besides in indirect questions (the examples previously given), if + will works also to indicate volition (or refusal in its negative form, "if + won't" ) or insistence, and, yes, it can be used at the beginning of a sentence. Here are the links to some other threads where these kinds of if + will were discussed. Hope you'll find them useful.

http://www.englishforums.com/English/IfAdjectiveClauses/zjqbg/post.htm
http://www.englishforums.com/English/NoCondition/vrcvh/post.htm
http://www.englishforums.com/English/IfClauseFuture/2/cwgxp/Post.htm