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Tips To Understand English Conditionals In Five Easy Steps
Learn conditionals naturally at California's College of English Language, where expert instructors assist international students in mastering the complexities of English grammar.
Learn conditionals naturally at California's College of English Language, where expert instructors assist international students in mastering the complexities of English grammar.
Understanding conditionals may seem like a lot of work to you. And even though you’re aware of their complexity, you wish you didn't have to use them. If you ask the teachers at your English language school for international students in California if communication without conditionals is possible, you’ll get an emphatic answer that it isn’t. Sooner or later, you'll need them because they convey meanings you couldn't communicate otherwise. So what can you do? How can you learn them?
Memorizing rules mechanically won't help you at all. The key to using conditionals naturally in your daily life is to fully comprehend the logic behind them. And if you’re looking for some constructive advice on how to master conditionals, keep reading this article because we’re about to share some valuable tips with you.
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What would be the most complex part of English language grammar for you? If the answer is conditionals, you are definitely not alone. Students all around the world struggle to figure them out and use them correctly.
It may seem virtually impossible to comprehend conditionals at first, but a few tricks can make a huge difference. Let's examine them:
1. First, you’ll need to learn to recognize conditionals in your daily communication. If a sentence contains “if”, it’s probably a conditional sentence.
She will help me if she has time.
(The first conditional)
2. Make sure to learn all the rules. The zero and the first conditional may not seem tricky, but the second and the third conditional can be rather confusing and challenging, as they express hypothetical situations in the present and past.
If I had known the truth, I would have told you.
(The third conditional is used to describe something that didn’t happen in the past: the speaker didn’t know the truth and couldn’t tell it.)
3. Divide conditional sentences into two parts: the if-clause and the main clause. This may help you understand the cause-and-effect relationship between them.
I’ll help you (effect) if I have time (cause).
4. Once you learn to spot conditionals and memorize all the rules, notice how natives use them in their everyday life. These various contexts will help you remember which conditionals are appropriate for certain situations.
I don’t earn a lot of money. If I earned more money, I wouldn’t live in this small house.
(In this example, the speaker complains about their present situation and expresses unrealistic wishes: at the moment, the speaker can’t afford a larger house.)
5. Practice making your sentences, noting any possible mistakes you may make. And don’t forget to be flexible with the order of clauses, meaning the order of clauses isn’t strict.
I would tell you the truth if I knew it.
If I knew it, I would tell you the truth.
(Notice the comma when the if-clause comes first in writing.)
Conditionals may now seem less scary. However, you may still not be sure how to use them properly in your daily communication. Well, we have a solution for you. Enroll at the College of English Language, and our highly qualified teachers will help you with conditional sentences, clarify whether or not you can use "if" in reported speech, and provide assistance in all other areas of the language.
With three magnificent locations in Downtown San Diegohttps://www.sandiego.org/explore/downtown-urban/downtown.aspx, Santa Monica, and Pacific Beach, we offer our students a multicultural learning environment in state-of-the-art classrooms. Stop by today and choose the course that suits you best, and let's learn English together! This will be the experience of your lifetime!
