The
Subjunctive
That sentence is an example of the
subjunctive mood. The subjunctive is one of those aspects of grammar that
people don’€™t discuss as regularly as they discuss punctuation or subjects and
objects. You may not know what it is, but I guarantee you’€™ve seen it before.
The world of music is loaded with song titles that have verbs in the
subjunctive mood:
Beyonce’€™s “If I Were a Boy”
Johnny Cash’€™s cover of “€œIf I
Were a Carpenter”
The Boss’€™s “€œI Wish I Were Blind”
Frank Sinatra’€™s cover of “€œI Wish
I Were in Love Again”
Tevye’€™s “€œIf I Were a Rich Man”
Sister Sarah’€™s “€œIf I Were a
Bell”
The
Mood of Wishful Thinking
The subjunctive is used when a
sentence expresses a wish. If a sentence is wishful, you use the subjunctive
form of the verb “to be”€: “€œwere”.€ This may seem counterintuitive, but
even if the subject of the sentence is singular, you use “were”.€ That’€™s why
Bruce Springsteen sings, “I wish I were blind”€ and why Frank Sinatra says, “I
wish I were in love again”.€ Some more examples:
I love Beyonce. I wish she were my
best friend.
Frank Sinatra has the voice of an
angel. I wish he were still alive.
8.2. The
other subjunctive moods
8.2.1. The subjunctive mood of "wish"
"Wish" is often used with the subjunctive mood because the meanings are close to the unrealness.
"Hope" is similar to this, but it is not used with the mood, because it has the possibility. See the following examples.
(10)
a. I wish I had a car for personal use.
b. I wish I knew her address.
c. I wish I were a bird.
The above consists of "wish" and the past subjunctive mood, these means the present but these are impossible. (10a) means the speaker can not have the car, (10b) means s/he can not know it and (10c) means s/he can not be the bird.
These time representation is as follows.
(11)
It needs two time line since the subordinate clauses are the noun clauses. The past subjunctive mood is parallel to the lower line which has temporary (M) and (E) derived from the speaker's feeling (Cf. 8.1.2.).
Now, since the subjunctive mood is not relative to the sequence of tense, although "wish" is changed into the past tense, the verb of the subordinate clause is not changed. See the following examples.
(12)
a. I wished I had a car for personal use.
b. I wished I knew her address.
c. I wished I were a bird. (*32)
8.2.1. The subjunctive mood of "wish"
"Wish" is often used with the subjunctive mood because the meanings are close to the unrealness.
"Hope" is similar to this, but it is not used with the mood, because it has the possibility. See the following examples.
(10)
a. I wish I had a car for personal use.
b. I wish I knew her address.
c. I wish I were a bird.
The above consists of "wish" and the past subjunctive mood, these means the present but these are impossible. (10a) means the speaker can not have the car, (10b) means s/he can not know it and (10c) means s/he can not be the bird.
These time representation is as follows.
(11)
It needs two time line since the subordinate clauses are the noun clauses. The past subjunctive mood is parallel to the lower line which has temporary (M) and (E) derived from the speaker's feeling (Cf. 8.1.2.).
Now, since the subjunctive mood is not relative to the sequence of tense, although "wish" is changed into the past tense, the verb of the subordinate clause is not changed. See the following examples.
(12)
a. I wished I had a car for personal use.
b. I wished I knew her address.
c. I wished I were a bird. (*32)
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*32
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Actually, sometimes the sequence of tense is occurred, but
usually it is not occurred.
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The next examples are used with the subjunctive past perfect. It means the past unreal event.
(13)
a. I wish I had been more careful when I was using the machine.
b. She wishes she had married another man.
(13a) means the speaker was uncareful in the past and (13b) means she is regretful that she chose him. The time representation is as follows.
(14)
The subjunctive past perfect is parallel to the lower line. The nest example is the same.
(15)
I wish I had bought that stock.
The above means the speaker's regretful feeling. S/he did not buy the stocks but it is increased now.
Now, the subjunctive mood is not relative to the sequence of tense, especially English does not have the further past form of the past perfect form. See the following examples.
(16)
a. I wished I had been more careful when I was using the machine.
b. She wished she had married another man.
The time representation is as follows.
(17)
The lower time line is not influenced.
Conditional sentence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the non-custodial punishment for a crime in Canada, see Conditional sentence (Canada).
Conditional sentences are sentences expressing factual implications, or hypothetical
situations and their consequences. They are so
called because the validity of the main
clause of the sentence is conditional on the existence of
certain circumstances, which may be expressed in a dependent
clause or may be understood from the context.A full conditional sentence (one which expresses the condition as well as its consequences) therefore contains two clauses: the dependent clause expressing the condition, called the protasis; and the main clause expressing the consequence, called the apodosis.[1] An example of such a sentence (in English) is the following:
If it rains, the picnic will be cancelled.
Here the condition is expressed by the clause "If it rains", this being the protasis, while the consequence is expressed by "the picnic will be cancelled", this being the apodosis. (The protasis may either precede or follow the apodosis; it is equally possible to say "The picnic will be cancelled if it rains".) In terms of logic, the protasis corresponds to the antecedent, and the apodosis to the consequent.
Languages use a variety of grammatical forms and constructions in conditional sentences. The forms of verbs used in the protasis and apodosis are often subject to particular rules as regards their tense and mood. Many languages have a specialized type of verb form called the conditional mood – broadly equivalent in meaning to the English "would (do something)" – for use in some types of conditional sentence.
Contents
- 1Types of conditional sentence
- 2Grammar of conditional sentences
- 2.1English
- 2.1.1Zero conditional
- 2.1.2First conditional
- 2.1.3Second conditional
- 2.1.4Third conditional
- 2.1.5Mixed conditionals
- 2.2Latin
- 2.3French
- 2.4Italian
- 2.5Slavic languages
- 3Logic
- 4See also
- 5References
- 6External links
Types of conditional sentence
There are various ways of classifying conditional sentences. One distinction is between those that state an implication between facts, and those that set up and refer to a hypothetical situation. There is also the distinction between conditionals that are considered factual or predictive, and those that are considered counterfactual or speculative (referring to a situation that did not or does not really exist).Implicative and predictive
A conditional sentence expressing an implication (also called a factual conditional sentence) essentially states that if one fact holds, then so does another. (If the sentence is not a declarative sentence, then the consequence may be expressed as an order or a question rather than a statement.) The facts are usually stated in whatever grammatical tense is appropriate to them; there are not normally special tense or mood patterns for this type of conditional sentence. Such sentences may be used to express a certainty, a universal statement, a law of science, etc. (in these cases if may often be replaced by when):
If you heat water to 100 degrees,
it boils.
If the sea is stormy, the waves are
high.
They can also be used for logical deductions about particular circumstances
(which can be in various mixtures of past, present and future):
If it's raining here now, then it
was raining on the West Coast this morning.
If it's raining now, then your
laundry is getting wet.
If it's raining now, there will be
mushrooms to be picked next week.
If he locked the door, then Kitty
is trapped inside.
A predictive conditional sentence concerns a situation dependent on a
hypothetical (but entirely possible) future event. The consequence is normally
also a statement about the future, although it may also be a consequent
statement about present or past time (or a question or order).
If I become President, I'll lower
taxes.
If it rains this afternoon,
everybody will stay home.
If it rains this afternoon, then
yesterday's weather forecast was wrong.
If it rains this afternoon, your
garden party is doomed.
What will you do if he invites you?
If you see them, shoot!
Counterfactual
Main article: Counterfactual conditional
In a counterfactual or speculative[2]
conditional sentence, a situation is described as dependent on a condition that
is known to be false, or presented as unlikely. The time frame of the
hypothetical situation may be past, present or future, and the time frame of
the condition does not always correspond to that of the consequence. For
example:
If I were king, I could have you
thrown in the dungeon.
If I won the lottery, I would buy a
car.
If he said that to me, I would run
away.
If you had called me, I would have
come.
If you had done your job properly,
we wouldn't be in this mess now.
The difference in meaning between a "counterfactual" conditional
with a future time frame, and a "predictive" conditional as described
in the previous section, may be slight. For example, there is no great
practical difference in meaning between "If it rained tomorrow, I would
cancel the match" and "If it rains tomorrow, I will cancel the
match".It is in the counterfactual type of conditional sentence that the grammatical form called the conditional mood (meaning something like the English "would ...") is most often found. For the uses of particular verb forms and grammatical structures in the various types and parts of conditional sentences in certain languages, see the following sections.
Grammar of conditional sentences
Languages have different rules concerning the grammatical structure of conditional sentences. These may concern the syntactic structure of the condition clause (protasis) and consequence (apodosis), as well as the forms of verbs used in them (particularly their tense and mood). Rules for English and certain other languages are described below; more information can be found in the articles on the grammars of individual languages. (Some languages are also described in the article on the conditional mood.)English
Main article: English conditional sentences
In English conditional sentences, the condition clause (protasis) is most
commonly introduced by the conjunctionif, or
sometimes other conjunctions or expressions such as unless, provided
(that), providing (that) and as long as. Certain condition
clauses can also be formulated using inversion without any
conjunction (should you fail...; were he to die...; had they
helped us... ; see also the corresponding section about inversion in
the English subjunctive article).In English language teaching, conditional sentences are often classified under the headings zero conditional, first conditional (or conditional I), second conditional (or conditional II), third conditional (or conditional III) and mixed conditional, according to the grammatical pattern followed.[3] A range of variations on these structures are possible.
Zero conditional
"Zero conditional..refers to conditional sentences that express a simple implication (see above section), particularly when both clauses are in the present tense:
If you don't eat for a long time,
you become hungry.
This form of the conditional expresses the idea that a universally known
fact is being described:
If you touch a flame, you burn
yourself.
The act of burning oneself only happens on the condition of the first clause
being completed. However such sentences can be formulated with a variety of
tenses (and moods), as appropriate to the situation.First conditional
"First conditional" refers to predictive conditional sentences (see above section); here, normally, the condition is expressed using the present tense and the consequence using the future:
If you make a mistake, someone will
let you know.
Second conditional
"Second conditional" refers to the pattern where the condition clause is in the past tense, and the consequence in conditional mood (using would or, in the first person and rarely, should). This is used for hypothetical, counterfactual situations in a present or future time frame (where the condition expressed is known to be false or is presented as unlikely).
If I liked parties, I would attend
more of them.
If it were to rain tomorrow, I
would dance in the street.
The past tense used in the condition clause is historically the past subjunctive; however in
modern English this is identical to the past indicative
except in certain dialects in the case of the verb be (first and third
person singular), where the indicative is was and the subjunctive were.
In this case either form may be used (was is more colloquial, and were
more formal, although the phrase if I were you is common in colloquial
language too):
If I (he, she, it) was/were rich,
there would be plenty of money available for this project.
Third conditional
"Third conditional" is the pattern where the condition clause is in the past perfect, and the consequence is expressed using the conditional perfect. This is used to refer to hypothetical, counterfactual (or believed likely to be counterfactual) situations in the past
If you had called me, I would have
come.
Conditional Sentences
A conditional sentence is made up of a dependent clause introduced by IF and a main clause.If it is snowing, we are going home.
- If it is snowing is the dependent, conditional clause (called the protasis) and we are going home is the main clause (called the apodasis).
- In Latin, the conditional clause is introduced by si, meaning ifif it is positive, and nisi, meaning if...not or unless, if it is negative.
- In Latin, both the INDICATIVE MOOD and the SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD are used depending depending on the circumstances of the conditions:
- SIMPLE CONDITIONS
- PRESENT TIME - uses the indicative mood in the present tense.
- Si ningit, imusdomum.
- If it is snowing, we are going home.
- PAST TIME - uses the indicative mood in the imperfect, perfect, or pluperfect tense.
- Si ningebat, ivimusdomum.
- If it was snowing, we went home.
- FUTURE CONDITIONS
- FUTURE MORE VIVID - uses the indicative mood in the future and/or future perfect tense.
- Si ninget, ibimusdomum.
- If it will snow, we will go home.
- FUTURE LESS VIVID - "should-would;" uses the subjunctive mood in the present tense.
- Si ningat, eamusdomum.
- If it should snow, we would go home.
- CONTRARY TO FACT CONDITIONS
- PRESENT TIME - uses the subjunctive mood in the imperfect tense
- Si ningeret, iremusdomum.
- If it were snowing, we would go home.
- PAST TIME - uses the subjunctive mood in the pluperfect tense.
- Si ninxisset, ivissemusdomum
- If it had snowed, we would have gone home.
Must conditional sentences begin with “if?”
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I've been looking at conditional sentences (conditional clauses). Every example I've see is along the lines of, "if [x] then [y]." I've seen alternatives/substitutes for the if part:
Is that the only way to have a conditional? Is it not possible to invert/switch around the structure? Would it still be a conditional clause (or conditional sentence) if I put the condition after the occurance?
Would they be considered as "acceptable" if I were to be editing/rewriting something, or would it be seen as bad/improper/incorrect/having a sufficiently different implication? |
