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Just in Case You Don't Use
'If'... |
It is no surprise that many popular love songs use
conditionals. Conditional sentences show that something
is true only when something else is true. So, they help
us talk about wishes, hopes and even regrets.
In her song “All the Way,” classic American jazz singer
Billie Holiday sings about love. She uses the word
“unless” to show a condition.
When somebody loves you
It’s no good unless he loves you all the way
The word unless means “if not.” When Holiday says, “It’s
no good unless they love you all the way,” she means a
romance is not good if the person does not love you
completely.
On a past Everyday Grammar program, we told you about
conditionals that use the word if. For example, “If I
practice enough, I can speak English.”
But, in today’s program, we will tell you about other
words and phrases we use to make conditionals in spoken
English.
First, let’s quickly go over how conditionals work:
Conditional sentences have two parts: the conditional
clause, which shows the condition, and the main clause,
which shows the result. For example, “If I practice
enough” is a conditional clause and “I can speak
English” is the main clause.
Conditional clauses are not complete sentences. They
need a main clause to be complete.
There are a few types of conditionals. Some show
possible situations, like the sentence about speaking
English. Some show improbable situations. And, others
show situations that are impossible or very unrealistic.
You can learn more about this in our past program.
Unless
Now, let’s continue with unless.
In our Billie Holiday example, “unless they love you all
the way” is the conditional clause. It shows the
condition. And “It’s no good” is the main clause. It
shows the result of the condition.
Some English learners have a habit of putting the words
“unless” and “if” together as “unless if” but these
words should not be used together.
Otherwise and or
Two more words that express the same idea as unless are
otherwise and or. Each word means if not. So, unless,
or, otherwise and if not have the same basic meaning.
Keep in mind that or and otherwise also have other
meanings. But in conditional statements, they mean “if
not.”
In his song “Trouble Loves Me,” British singer Morrissey
uses the word otherwise to talk about unreturned love.
So, console me
Otherwise hold me
Just when it seems like…
The conditional clause is “otherwise hold me” and the
main clause is “So, console me.”
Notice that his conditional and main clauses use the
imperative form, so the subject “you” is not stated but
is understood.
The word otherwise sometimes uses a different sentence
structure in conditionals. Here’s an example:
The plane must be delayed. Otherwise, she would have
called.
In this example, the clauses are separate sentences.
More importantly, even though the clause “otherwise, she
would have called” contains the conditional word, it
does not state the condition. The condition is “the
plane must be late.”
Having the condition appear in a separate sentence or
clause is common with otherwise and or.
Listen to an example using or:
Finish your lunch or you can’t play outside.
Here, the condition is “finish your lunch” and the
result is “You can’t play outside.” You’ll notice that
the result clause – not the conditional clause –
contains the conditional word or.
In case
Let’s move on to the phrase in case.
We use in case to talk about things we should do to
prepare for other things that may happen.
For example:
I’ll bring an umbrella in case it rains.
In this sentence, I don’t know if it will rain or not.
But it’s possible.
Now, listen to same sentence with if.
I’ll bring an umbrella if it rains.
Did you get the difference in meaning? In the if
sentence, I’ll wait to see if it rains first. Then, I’ll
bring an umbrella.
Another usage for in case is mainly for signs about what
to do if danger occurs. The structure of the conditional
clause is in case of + noun. For example:
In case of emergency, break glass.
As long as
Our last conditional phrase for today is as long as.
When we begin a conditional clause with as long as, the
statement is a little stronger than using if. As long as
essentially means “only if.”
In his song called “As Long as You Love Me,” American
pop singer Justin Bieber says that his love can survive
any difficulty.
As long as you love me
We could be starving
we could be homeless
we could be broke
As long as you love me
Because this is a song, it doesn’t follow standard
sentence structure. Here, the conditional clause is “as
long as you love me.” And, the other lines are main
clauses.
One important note about conditionals is that you can
often switch the placement of main and conditional
clauses and get the same meaning.
For example: I’ll bring an umbrella in case it rains
means the same as In case it rains, I’ll bring an
umbrella.
And, if you learn conditionals, you’ll have a lot more
freedom to express yourself in English.
I’m Alice Bryant.
Alice Bryant wrote this story for Everyday Grammar. Caty
Weaver was the editor. |
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