The English Conditionals

What the Conditionals are

conditional is a sentence or part of a sentence that expresses a condition. There are five main ways of constructing conditional sentences in English.

In all cases, these sentences are made up of an if clause and a main clause.

All of them begin with:

  • when
  • if
  • unless

condition is what must happen before something else can happen. Conditional tenses are used to speculate about:

  • What could happen
  • What might have happened
  • What we wish would happen

What is a Clause?

A clause creates a complete thought. A complete thought is also called a main clause or independent clause.

Example

Subject + verb = complete thought

I eat bananas. = complete thought

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