THE MEANING OF CONDITIONAL SENTENCES THE FINAL EXAM OF WRITING IN PROFESSIONAL CONTEXT 2

THE MEANING OF CONDITIONAL SENTENCES
THE FINAL EXAM OF WRITING IN PROFESSIONAL CONTEXT 2

Introduction

There is an utterance that Grammar in English is the heart of everything. Many learners who studies English often find many methods of learning grammar that are very confusing them. As a result, many people (especially Indonesian learners) are lazy and scare to learn English, because they feel that English is a difficult language to study. They are scare to speak something in English although to say daily conversation that they ever learn since Elementary School or even since in Kinder Garden. Actually language not only case to tell something, but also about logical of word order. The word or sentence order in English is affected by the tenses, whereas Indonesian people don’t know about tenses in Bahasa Indonesia itself. So, it is one of that makes Indonesian learner (from Elementary till University students) confused. Word or sentence patterns to express the actions that happened in the past, now, or future will be different. Bahasa Indonesia just distinguishing past, now, and future by using adverb of time, it doesn’t change the word or pattern of the sentences. In this paper the writer will not explain about tenses, but conditional sentences or if clause. The writer took the title ‘The Meaning of Conditional Sentences’. This paper will show several exercises of Conditional sentences in order that reader (especially the beginner

Theoretical Foundation

In the growth of life in this modern century, minimally it is very necessary to understand a foreign language, or even it is better if we can master it. This is intended in order not to misunderstand in receiving and giving the information to others. The communication will be run well if they understand what they are talking.
English is one of language which has been made as international language which is used as a communication tool by people in the world as a bridge for their business. This can be watched in the various international activities.
Based on the matters above, it is natural that in Indonesia English has been considered as one of the important subject that must be taught since Elementary schools until universities.
Generally the English teaching has done by the teachers toward the students at school don’t hold on the meaning of English as a mean of communication. Their reasons are as follows.
1) They are chased by curriculum. It’s about forty-five minute, or even just thirty-five per hour.
2) Learner’s response or the student’s interest.
3) Teaching aids used to develop are not enough.
4) Teacher’s competence or skill both method and English are not sufficient.
If those factors above are not handled soon by English teachers, English teaching process will yet hindrances continually and it will not succeed effectively.
The main materials of the English teaching that often given is tenses, yet in this paper the writer will not explain about tenses, but will be explained about conditional sentences and the meaning in the real situation. The reason why the writer chose this subject is because this material is seldom to be taught in every school levels. In addition most of the English learners find any difficulties to determine both the conditional sentences forms and the meaning itself.

Conditional Sentences

Conditional Sentences are also known as Conditional Clauses or If Clauses. They are used to express that the action in the main clause (without if) can only take place if a certain condition (in the clause with if) is fulfilled. There are three types of Conditional Sentences.
Another definition of conditional sentences is the verb tense that is used to indicate that an action or state of being is dependent on the occurrence of a condition. The condition does not need to be explicitly stated. For example, in the sentence "I would eat it" the condition is not stated but would be implied by the context. The conditional tense is formed using the auxiliary verb "would," although "would" also has other uses.
Conditional Sentences divided into two; main clause and sub clause (if clause) that is divided by if. There are three types of Conditional Sentences.

a. Conditional Sentences Type 1
It is possible and also very likely that the condition will be fulfilled.
Conditional Sentences Type I refer to the future. An action in the future will only happen if a certain condition is fulfilled by that time. We don't know for sure whether the condition actually will be fulfilled or not, but the conditions seems rather realistic – so we think it is likely to happen.
Example: If I find her address, I’ll send her an invitation.
I want to send an invitation to a friend. I just have to find her address. I am quite sure, however, that I will find it.
Example: If John has the money, he will buy a Ferrari.
I know John very well and I know that he earns a lot of money and that he loves Ferraris. So I think it is very likely that sooner or later he will have the money to buy a Ferrari.
Form: if + Simple Present, will-Future
Example: If I find her address, I will send her an invitation.
The main clause can also be at the beginning of the sentence. In this case, don't use a comma.
Example: I will send her an invitation if I find her address.
Note: Main clause and / or if clause might be negative.
Example: If I don’t see him this afternoon, I will phone him in the evening.
There are three tenses which is very important in this first type, namely future time, habitual and command.
Future Time
If + Subject + Simple Present Tense …, Subject + modal auxiliaries + V1
Examples:
1. If I study hard, I will pass the exam.
2. If she invites us, we will come to her party.
3. I will watch an interesting film if I go to the cinema.
Habitual
If + Subject + Simple Present Tense …, Subject + Simple Present Tense
Examples:
1. If the manager has meeting in the morning, he meets his client in the afternoon.
2. Isa always cleans his own room if he has enough time.
3. My mother always gives me a present if I get a good mark in English.
Command
If + Subject + Simple Present Tense …, Subject + Verb in command form
Examples:
1. If you go to the drugstore, please buy some aspirin for me.
2. Please send me an email if you have the information.

b. Conditional Sentences Type 2
It is possible but very unlikely, that the condition will be fulfilled.
Conditional Sentences Type II refers to situations in the present. An action could happen if the present situation were different. I don't really expect the situation to change, however. I just imagine „what would happen if …“
Example: If I found her address, I would send her an invitation.
I would like to send an invitation to a friend. I have looked everywhere for her address, but I cannot find it. So now I think it is rather unlikely that I will eventually find her address.
Example: If John had the money, he would buy a Ferrari.
I know John very well and I know that he doesn't have much money, but he loves Ferraris. He would like to own a Ferrari (in his dreams). But I think it is very unlikely that he will have the money to buy one in the near future.
The second type of conditional sentences is used when we want to express something contrast with the fact that happen now.
Form: if + Simple Past, main clause with Conditional I (= would + Infinitive)
Example: If I found her address, I would send her an invitation.
The main clause can also be at the beginning of the sentence. In this case, don't use a comma.
Example: I would send her an invitation if I found her address.
Note: Main clause and / or if clause might be negative.
Example: If I had a lot of money, I wouldn’t stay here.
Were instead of Was
In IF Clauses Type II, we usually use ‚were‘– even if the pronoun is I, he, she or it –.
Example: If I were you, I would not do this.

c. Conditional Sentences Type 3
It is impossible that the condition will be fulfilled because it refers to the past.
Conditional Sentences Type III refers to situations in the past. An action could have happened in the past if a certain condition had been fulfilled. Things were different then, however. We just imagine, what would have happened if the situation had been fulfilled.
Example: If I had found her address, I would have sent her an invitation.
Sometime in the past, I wanted to send an invitation to a friend. I didn't find her address, however. So in the end I didn't send her an invitation.
Example: If John had had the money, he would have bought a Ferrari.
I knew John very well and I know that he never had much money, but he loved Ferraris. He would have loved to own a Ferrari, but he never had the money to buy one.
Form: if + Past Perfect, main clause with Conditional II
Example: If I had found her address, I would have sent her an invitation.
The main clause can also be at the beginning of the sentence. In this case, don't use a comma.
Example: I would have sent her an invitation if I had found her address.
Note: Main clause and / or if clause might be negative.
Example: If I hadn’t studied, I wouldn’t have passed my exams.
We can use this third type to express or to tell the regret about something that never happened at present. We can omit if and put had in sub clause (if clause).
Example:
If the flight had left on time, we would not have arrived so late
Or
Had the flight left on time, we would not have arrived so late.

Analysis
In this part, the writer will explain furthermore about Conditional sentences and their meaning in the facts (real situation) from Type 1, 2 and 3.

Type 1
Sue has lost her watch. She thinks it may be at Ann’s house.
Sue : I think I left my watch at your house. Have you seen it?
Ann : No, but I’ll have a look when I get home. If I find it, I’ll tell you.
In this example Ann feels there is a real possibility that she will find the watch. So she says: If I find …, I’ll …

Type 2
Ann says: If I found a wallet in the street, I’d take it to the police.
This is a different type of situation. Here, Ann is not thinking about a real possibility; she is imagining the situation and doesn’t expect to find a wallet in the street.
So she says: If I found …, I’d (=I would) …
The fact is Ann doesn’t find a wallet in the street, so she will not take it to the police.
Although in this type uses past tent, the meaning is not past (present).

Type 3
Last month Gary was in Hospital for an operation. Liz didn’t know this, so she didn’t go to visit him. They met a few days ago. Liz says:
If I had known you were in hospital, I would have gone to visit you.
The real situation was that Liz didn’t know he (Gary) was in hospital. It was impossible for Liz to visit Gary in the hospital when he was sick last month.

Compare (Type 2 and 3):
I’m not hungry. If I was hungry, I would eat something. (Now)
I wasn’t hungry. If I had been hungry, I would have eaten something. (Past)
These examples are provided to help readers (beginners) are able to understand so far about Conditional Sentence. The following exercises include affirmative and negative clauses.

A. Conditional Sentence Type I
1. If you study hard, you will pass this English test.
2. If the sun shines, we will swim in my grandmother’s swimming pool.
3. If my son has a temperature, he will see the doctor.
4. If Indri goes, her husband will be very sad.
5. If my mother earns a lot of money, our family will fly to Singapore.
6. The children will not go for a walk if it rains.
7. If I do not argue with my father, he will lend me his motorbike.
8. If we take the bus, we will not arrive in time.
9. If Tom doesn’t tidy up his room, Victoria will not help him with the muffins.
10. If the boys don’t play football, the girls will not come.

B. Conditional Sentence Type 2
1. If my brother had enough money, he would buy a new house.
2. If the man were my friend, I would invite him to my birthday party.
3. My family would go to London if they had a promotion.
4. I would call my father if I saw him again.
5. If the students had no school, they would play chess.
6. If Oliver found money, he wouldn’t keep it.
7. If they didn’t wear pullovers in the mountains, it would be too cold during the night.
8. If Tony knew her phone number, he wouldn’t it to Frank.
9. If I were you, I wouldn’t go to Eric’s party.
10. If he didn’t print the document, I wouldn’t correct it.


C. Conditional Sentence Type 3
1. If the weather had been nice, my friend and I would have gone shopping.
2. The motorcycle wouldn’t have broken down if my uncle had checked it.
3. If they had gone to the restaurant, they would have had more to eat.
4. I would have understood the song if I had read the lyrics.
5. The sand on the beach would have been warmer if the sun had shone.
6. If Danni had learnt more words, he would have delivered a good speech.
7. They newly married couple would have bought the house if the woman hadn’t sold it to her own son.
8. If my parents hadn’t stopped me, I would have reached your house on time.
9. If I had been hungry, I would have eaten something.
10. If I had been tired, I would have gone bed earlier.

D. Conditional Sentences and the meaning/the real situation (Type 2 and 3)
1. If I knew his number, I would phone him.
[I don’t phone him because I don’t know his number]
2. I would call my father if I saw him again.
[I don’t see my father, so I don’t call him now]
3. I would help you if I could, but I’m afraid I can’t.
[I will not help you because I can’t]
4. We would need a car if we lived in the country.
[We don’t need a car because we don’t live in the country]
5. I wouldn’t mind living in England if the weather was better.
[I will not live in England because the weather is not better]
6. If you went to bed so late every night, you wouldn’t be tired be tired all the time.
[You didn’t go to bed so late every night, so you will be tired all the time]
7. If there weren’t so many cars, there wouldn’t cause so much pollution.
[There is much pollution because there are so many cars]

8. If I had had any money on me, I would have got a taxi.
[I didn’t get a taxi because I didn’t have any money on me]
9. If Margaret hadn’t worn a seat belt, she would have been injured.
[Margaret wasn’t injured in the crush because she was wearing a seat belt]
10. If Jim hadn’t lent me the money, I wouldn’t have bought the car.
[I was able to buy the car only because Jim lent me the money]
11. If the driver in front hadn’t stopped so suddenly, the accident wouldn’t have happened.
The accident happened because the driver in front stopped so suddenly]
12. If I’d been hungry, I would have eaten something.
[I wasn’t hungry, so I didn’t eat anything]
13. If I had had your address, I would have sent you a postcard.
[I didn’t send you a postcard because I didn’t have your address]
14. If I had seen you, of course I would have said hello.
[I didn’t say hello because I didn’t see you]
15. I would have gone if I hadn’t been so tired.
[I was so tired so I didn’t go]

Conclusion

Conditional Sentences are also known as Conditional Clauses or If Clauses. They are used to express that the action in the main clause (without if) can only take place if a certain condition (in the clause with if) is fulfilled. There are three types of Conditional Sentences.
If you want to tell about the possibility, you can use conditional sentences type 1. If you want to imagine something, you have to use conditional sentences type 2. But if you regret about something that happened in the past, so you must use conditional sentences type 3.
Type I
Condition : possible to fulfill
Form : if + Simple Present, will-Future
Example : If you study hard, you will pass this English test.
Type II
Condition : condition in theory possible to fulfill
Form : if + Simple Past, main clause with Conditional I (= would + Infinitive)
Example : If my brother had enough money, he would buy a new house.
Type III
Condition : condition not possible to fulfill (too late)
Form : if + Past Perfect, main clause with Conditional II
Example : If my brother had enough money, he would buy a new house.


References

Indra Astuti, Santi. 2008. Simple Step to TOEFL. Jakarta: Hi-Fest Publishing.
Khorn, Robert. 1971. English Sentence Structure. USA: The University of Michigan.
Murphy, Raymond. 1994. English Grammar in Use. UK: Cambridge University Press.
Schramfer Azar, Betty. 1993. Fundamentals of English Grammar. Jakarta: Binarupa Angkasa.
Simanjuntak, Herpinus. 2004. Percakapan dan Tata Bahasa Inggris. Jakarta: Kesaint Blanc.