Factual Conditionals

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Factual Conditionals

• Ron Cowan, Ph.D.
• PP slides Yuri Vedrashko
• November 2006

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• If the gas is heated, it expends.
• If she plays bridge with him, they always lose
  big.
• If she wants to go skiing, thats what they do.
• If Jim doesnt find his passport, he may be
  deported.
• If hes vacationing in Florida now, hes probably
  getting a great tan.
• It must be Bill if that call is for me.
• If he has an IQ of 182, then Im another
  Einstein!
• If anyone has a clue here, it must be Jane.

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General types

• Factual conditionals express a fact and can be
• Timeless
• Time-bound

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Factual conditionals

• Can be further broken down into
• A Timeless
• Generic
• Habitual
• B Time-bound
• Implicit inference
• Explicit inference

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Factual conditionals

• A Timeless
• Generic

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Factual / timeless / generic

• If the gas is heated, it expends.
• If the temperature is below 0, the water
  freezes.
• If the water is heated, it evaporates.
• Meaning a fact that holds for all time, such as
  a scientific truth
• Form The main verb is in Present tense in both
  clauses

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Factual conditionals

• A Timeless
• Generic
• Habitual

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Factual / timeless / habitual

• If she plays bridge with him, they always lose
  big.
• If she wanted to go skiing, thats what they did.
  
• Whenever (if) he takes her on a trip, they always
  get into a fight over where to stay.
• Meaning past or present relationships that are
  usually but not always true.
• Form The main verb is in Present or Past tense
  in both clauses. It also occurs with ltwhenevergt.

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Factual conditionals

• A Timeless
• Generic
• Habitual
• B Time-bound
• Implicit inference

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Factual / time-bound / implicit inference

• If we can save the bald eagle from extinction, we
  can certainly ensure the survival of all
  endangered species.
• If we can eliminate air pollution in Deli, we can
  do it everywhere.
• If you can beat Federer, you can sweep all the
  rest of them.
• Meaning If-clause indicates an event that is
  bounded in time. The result clause refers to an
  action or event that can be logically inferred
  from this.
• Form The main verb is in Present tense in both
  clauses. Modal verbs ltmay and cangt are often used
  too.

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Factual conditionals

• A Timeless
• Generic
• Habitual
• B Time-bound
• Implicit inference
• Explicit inference

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Factual / time-bound / explicit inference

• If its still snowing out there, my car must be
  covered.
• If that call is for me, it should be Sam.
• If the door was locked, then the thief must have
  come through the window.
• If he has a villa here, he must be rich.
• Meaning An explicit inference is made in the
  result-clause about some time-bound event, action
  or fact.
• Form Modal verbs ltmust, shouldgt, along with ltbe
  probably, likelygt, are often used. Also a wider
  range of tenses can occur in both clauses.

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More on explicit inference

• Meaning Sarcastic statements often take the form
  of explicit inference conditionals
• Form Present tense
• Examples
• If he has an IQ of 182, then Im another
  Einstein!
• If this man is guilty, then who is not?

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Factual conditionals

• A Timeless
• Generic
• Habitual
• B Time-bound
• Implicit inference
• Explicit inference

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The end of Factual conditionals

• What would you like to do now?
• Back to the Introduction
• Future conditionals
• Imaginative conditionals