ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Is this a conditional sentence?

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:09:39 GMT

Thank you.

You said:

Just because you have a combination that doesn't have a name doesn't mean it's not a conditional sentence

Then, why would the first one would be wrong and the second one would be OK? How can I test the kinds like these for correctness?

1.If you do that, I would tell your mother to discipline you.

2.If I use a semicolon in the sentence, would you consider it wrong?

Re: Is this a conditional sentence?

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:59:36 GMT

Thank you, again. Then, what a person has to do in order to build some solid foundations on the basics of conditional construction and have a ready reference at the back of his head (?) to refer back to to check whether a conditional sentence he wrote is formed correctly?? Could your answer be that we have to read more and take notice of conditional constructions?

Re: Is this a conditional sentence?

CalifJim — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:35:06 GMT

Anonymous
what type of conditional

I think you want to know whether they are "Type 1", "Type 2", or "Type 3" conditionals. They are not any of these named conditionals.

Note that there are many different tenses in English. The if clause can be in any of these tenses; the main clause can be in any of these tenses. That means that there are very many ways to build a conditional sentence -- very many ways indeed. But note that only three combinations have names.

Type 1. IF present, will ....

Type 2. IF past, would ....

Type 3. IF past perfect, would have ...

Just because you have a combination that doesn't have a name doesn't mean it's not a conditional sentence.

Re: Is this a conditional sentence?

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:20:06 GMT

Thankyou. If you don't mind, would you please tell me what type of conditional this very question and other previous ones in my previous post are?

Re: Is this a conditional sentence?

CalifJim — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:17:27 GMT

All three are conditionals.

In the third, the appreciation happens IF the napkins are brought, so that makes it a conditional.

Is this a conditional sentence?

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 06:26:44 GMT

Hi,
Is this a conditional sentence?

If my sentence has a semicolon, would you say it is wrong?
Or
If my sentence has a semicolon, would it be wrong?

I think this is not a conditional sentence eventhough it has an if-clause.

I would appreciate it if you bring some napkins when you come.