EfS Grammar VIII: If… Two very different types of sentences that can be made with "if": hypotheses, and causes-and-effects.

EfS Grammar VIII:If…

Two very different types of sentences that can be made with "if":hypotheses, and

causes-and-effects.

SuSe 2008 © 2008, Lee Traynor, MA (Oxon)

EfS Grammar VIII: If, hypotheticals, causals

Hypotheticals

H1 (future): "If the deal goes through, Dr Smith will step down."H2 (present): "If a nuclear accident occurred [i.e. now], millions of people would die."H3 (past): "If it had not rained, we would have gone out."

Tense RulesT1: If present tense, will-futureT2: If past simple, would + infinitiveT3: If past perfect, would have + past participle

SuSe 2008 © 2008, Lee Traynor, MA (Oxon)

EfS Grammar VIII: If, hypotheticals, causals

Reported Speech

"If the deal goes through, he will…"He said if the deal went through, he would…Present hypothetical (H2/T2)

"If an accident occurred, it would…"He said if an accident had occurred, it would have…Past hypothetical (H3/T3)

SuSe 2008 © 2008, Lee Traynor, MA (Oxon)

EfS Grammar VIII: If, hypotheticals, causals

Causals (present)

"W. would be in office if he was white."= W. is not white. He is not electible.= He is not electible because he is not white.

Rearrangement Rule RAny sentence of the formA because B (present)can be rearranged to formIf not B (then) not A (C1)with the tenses according to T2 (past simple, would + infintive)

SuSe 2008 © 2008, Lee Traynor, MA (Oxon)

EfS Grammar VIII: If, hypotheticals, causals

Causals (past)

"If the goods had been delivered, they would have been sold."The goods were not delivered. They were not sold. (Because…)

R applies:A because B (past) ≡ If not B (then) not A (C2)Tenses follow T3

SuSe 2008 © 2008, Lee Traynor, MA (Oxon)

EfS Grammar VIII: If, hypotheticals, causals

Exercise Rules

Hypothesis or Cause-and-Effect?

If hypothesis H1 (T1), H2 (T2), H3 (T3)

If cause-and-effect make a sentence with "because"; rearrange according to R; check tenses C1 (T2), C2 (T3).

SuSe 2008 © 2008, Lee Traynor, MA (Oxon)

EfS Grammar VIII: If, hypotheticals, causals

Ambiguous Interpretations

"There would be a better balance if the pound joined the EMS."Hypothetical (H1): The pound could join the EMS and then…Causal (C1): The balance is not good because…

"If we knew the trios better, we could understand the quartetts."

SuSe 2008 © 2008, Lee Traynor, MA (Oxon)

EfS Grammar VIII: If, hypotheticals, causals

Corpus

These examples and more in full and in their original context:

http://englishforscience.shorturl.com Click on "Preliminary If-Corpus" (General Resources and Investigations for Technical English)