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ZERO CONDITIONAL versus FIRST CONDITIONAL

Martin Dansky (Montreal)

September 23

When using the first conditional I reference it to the other conditional especially to the zero one, which is similar. The zero one is used to communicate an idea about something that is a natural consequence of something such as, “When it rains, it pours” or “When you don’t eat you get sick”. If it is common knowledge that something is a natural accompaniment to another happening than the zero conditional is used.

The first conditional uses the “if” rather than when and communicates something happening as a result of another action. The result may then be the appearance of another object, the arrival of someone else and so can relate to how events can occur in sequence because of something else. This makes it very different from the zero conditional then.

I usually bring on examples of the student’s life or examples of my own so that he can see it is applied to any person. I have the student to complete a thought through words once I explain a scenario in my life so that he can tell what will happen as a result of an action. So in the case of a dishonest friend that I may still want to meet, he could say, “If you see him, you will be disappointed”.

I also have the student understand that other modals can be used besides will, like can or might in the same example or others, depending on how definite I want to be.So might will be used when I am less definite than will and these elements will be discussed under the use of modals which assist in the action of a sentence.

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