A. Wallwork
, English for Research Usage, Style, and Grammar,DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-1593-0_9, © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
9.1 zero and first conditional 1.
Zero conditional [
if + present + present or
present + if + present ]: to express general truths, logical conclusions and scientific facts. It means every time that or whenever.
2.
First conditional [
if + present + will or
will +
if + present ]: to talk
about real future situations, rather than general truths that are always valid.
3. Both
zero and
fi rst conditional forms can be used to express logical conclusions
will is sometimes preferred when there are various stages in a process and the author is talking about a later stage in the process.
4. The
present perfect can replace the
present simple in the
if clause.
In such cases both the present simple and
will maybe found in the dependent clause. Note
if refers to the occurrence of an event that mayor may not take place, whereas
when indicates certainty. Examples
If the alarm goes off, call the police. (We don’t know whether the alarm will ring or not.
I getup in the morning when the alarm goes off (My alarm always rings every morning.
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