Dictionary: English Grammar Terms

Conditional sentences are such if-sentences that consist of a dependant and an independent clause; and that are used to express a condition. It can not only help to express a condition, but can also help in expressing the outcome of that condition.

In most of the cases, you will find out that the conditional sentence begins with the subordinating conjunction ‘if’; or it is the dependant clause that starts with ‘if.’

However, it does not mean that a conditional sentence always start with a dependant clause that begins with ‘if’.
Take a look at the examples below,

1. If I lose some weight, I can climb a mountain.

                                        Or

• I can climb a mountain if I lose some weight.

In the above example sentences, the dependant clause begins with ‘if’ (if I lose some weight) whereas, the independent clause is ‘I can climb a mountain.’

Note: Some conditional sentences may also begin with ‘when.’

Different Types of Conditional Sentences

There are four different types of conditional sentences. Each type can help in expressing the probability or possibility of an action.

Let us discuss these types one by one.

Zero Conditional Sentences

Zero conditional sentences express truths or facts.

Remember the following rules for a zero conditional sentence,

• Start the dependent clause with ‘if’ or ‘when.’
• Always use simple present tense in both dependant and independent clauses.
• These sentences should be simple to express general truths.

Example sentences

1. If I don’t add sugar, dessert gets tasteless.
2. If you use mobile a lot, your eyes damage.
3. When you drink too much water, it results in water intoxication

First Conditional Sentences

A first conditional sentence expresses such an event or action that has the possibility to be happening in the future (but there is no guarantee for such a future happening.)

Remember the following rules for a first conditional sentence,

• Start the dependant clause with ‘if.’
• Use simple present tense in dependant clause and the simple future tense to express the outcome i.e. in the independent clause.

Example sentences

1. If students pay good attention on lectures, they will get good grades.
2. If you go out for a long drive, you will feel much better.
3. They will go out if he enters.

Second Conditional Sentences

A second conditional sentence expresses such an event or action that has no possibilities to happen in the future because that event or action is not real.

Remember the following rules for a second conditional sentence,

• Start the dependant clause with ‘if.’
• Use simple past tense in dependant clause and an auxiliary modal verb (i.e. could, would, might, etc.) in the independent clause to express the unreal outcome.

Example sentences

1. If I were the principal, I would cancel the examination.
2. If I owned this area, I would build a mall here.

Third Conditional Sentences

A third conditional sentence also based on an unreal event. It is used to express a past event or action that did not happen in the past. In simple words, these sentences could tell you an imagined result.

Remember the following rules for a second conditional sentence,

• Start the dependant clause with ‘if.’
• Use past perfect tense in the dependant clause and an auxiliary modal verb with ‘have’ (i.e. could have, would have, etc.) and a past participle verb in the independent clause to express the imagined unreal past event.

Example sentences

1. If I had attended the lectures, I would have passed the examination.
2. If I had gone earlier, I could have attended the ceremony.

Note: Commas should come after the dependant clause. If the dependant clause comes after the independent clause, there is no need to put a comma.

Real vs. Unreal Conditionals

Real conditionals (zero and first conditionals) describe factual or likely events that could happen in the present or future. Unreal conditionals (second and third conditionals) describe hypothetical, imaginary, or impossible situations, often in the past or future.

Real Conditional (First Conditional): If it rains, we’ll stay inside. (This describes a likely future event.)

Unreal Conditional (Second Conditional): If it rained, we would stay inside. (This describes a hypothetical situation that isn’t happening right now.)

The key distinction between real and unreal conditionals lies in the tense of the verb. In real conditionals, present or future tenses are used to indicate a possibility, while in unreal conditionals, past tense or past perfect is used to express an imaginary situation. For example:

Real (Zero Conditional): If you heat water, it boils. (A general fact.)

Unreal (Third Conditional): If I had known, I would have helped. (An impossible scenario because the time has passed.)

Common Mistakes in Conditional Sentences

Many learners make mistakes when constructing conditional sentences by using incorrect verb tenses or mixing up conditional types.

Mistake: If I will go, I will tell you.
Correction: If I go, I will tell you.
(Explanation: The “if” clause should use the present tense, not the future tense, even when referring to future events.)

Mistake: If I would have seen him, I would have said hello.
Correction: If I had seen him, I would have said hello.
(Explanation: The past perfect tense is required in the “if” clause for third conditionals that refer to past unreal events.)

Use the present tense in the “if” clause of real conditionals, even when discussing future events (first conditional).

What Did You Learn?

Conditional sentences have three different types. They are zero conditional, first conditional, second conditional, and third conditional sentences. They are also known as if-sentences that consist of a dependant and an independent clause and are used to express conditions or the outcomes.

A conjugation is an arrangement of the changing of verb forms in accordance with a person, tense, number, gender, or aspect. It means that verbs do change its form to express a grammatically correct idea.

Let us check out how verb form changes to show a different gender, person, number, tense, or aspect.

Person

There are different persons in English, such as,

1. First person:

• Singular > I
• Plural > We

2. Second person:

• Singular > You
• Plural > You

3. Third person:

• Singular > He, She, It
• Plural > They

Let us see how the verb ‘to be’ conjugate for each of the above person.

1. First person:

• Singular > I am
• Plural > We are

2. Second person:

• Singular > You are
• Plural > You are

3. Third person:

• Singular > He is, She is, It is
• Plural > They are

Conjugation For Tense + Aspect

Conjugation for ‘tenses’ are very obvious in sentences; they help in expressing the time or duration of a particular action. For instance, whether the action took place in the present, past, or future tense. However, the ‘aspect‘ tells the degree at which the action is completed (i.e. continuous, perfect, or progressive.)

Check out the conjugation in the examples below:

Verb used: ‘to like’

1. Simple Present > He, She, It (likes) + I, We, You, They (like)

• Present Continuous > I (am liking) + He, She, It (is liking) + We, You, They (are liking)
• Present Perfect > I, We, You, They (have liked) + He, She, It (has liked)
• and Present Perfect Continuous > I, We, You, They (have been liking) + He, She, It (has been liking)

2. Simple Past > He, She, It, I, We, You, They (liked)

• Past Continuous > He, She, It (was liking) + I, We, You, They (were liking)
• Past Perfect > He, She, It, I, We, You, They (had liked)
• and Past Perfect Continuous > He, She, It, I, We, You, They (had been liked)

3. Simple Future > I, We, You, They, He, She, It (will like)

• Future Continuous > I, We, You, They, He, She, It (will be liking)
• Future Perfect > I, We, You, They, He, She, It (will have liked)
• and Future Perfect Continuous > I, We, You, They, He, She, It (will have been liking)

Number

For ‘number’, the verb is conjugated according to the number of the subject i.e. whether the subject is singular or plural. For example, ‘he, she, it’ are singular subjects. So, conjugated verbs need an –s at the end to express the singular subject, like;

• He writes.
• She writes.
• It writes.

In the same way, plural subjects ‘you, they, we’ do not need an –s.

• You write
• They write
• We write

Gender

There is no such influence of conjugation on gender.

• She writes.
• He writes.

Irregular Verbs

Not all verbs follow regular conjugation rules, especially in past tense and past participle forms. Irregular verbs change unpredictably.

Regular: walk, walked, walked

Irregular: go, went, gone

Regular: play, played, played

Irregular: eat, ate, eaten

Common irregular verbs include drink (drank, drunk) and take (took, taken). These verbs don’t follow the usual “-ed” ending for past tense, so they must be memorized.

Conjugation in Negative Sentences and Questions

In negative sentences and questions, auxiliary verbs like do, does, and did are used to form the correct structure.

Negative: She does not like coffee.

Question: Does she like coffee?

Negative: They did not finish their work.

Question: Did they finish their work?

The main verb stays in its base form after do/does/did in questions and negatives. The auxiliary verb changes depending on the tense and subject.

Common Mistakes in Verb Conjugation

Errors in verb conjugation often involve mixing singular/plural forms or incorrect tense usage.

Mistake: He like football.

Correction: He likes football.

Mistake: I have saw that movie.

Correction: I have seen that movie.

To avoid these errors, ensure subject-verb agreement (e.g., singular subjects need verbs ending in -s) and use the correct past participle for perfect tenses.

What Did You Learn?

Conjugation is such a changing process in which a verb form changes according to the person, number, tense, or aspect. Conjugation should be properly understood to make writing grammatically correct and error-free.

A consonant is such a speech sound or a letter that is not a vowel. It means that in English alphabets, other than vowels, all the other letters are consonants.

Check out the below lists of vowels and consonants.

• Vowels: A, E, I, O, U.
• Consonants: B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.

Note: Sometimes, Y does not act as a consonant.

About Syllables

A syllable is known as a unit of pronunciation which is formed with the combination of vowels and consonants. See the examples below,

1. Remove

In the above word, there are two syllables. ‘Re’ (in which ‘r’ is a consonant and ‘e’ is a vowel) and ‘move’ (in which ‘m’ and ‘v’ are consonants whereas, ‘o’ and ‘e’ are vowels.)

2. Please

In the above word, there is only one syllable having three consonants (‘p’, ‘l’, and‘s’) and two vowels (‘e’ and ‘a’).

Check Out: What Is a Conjunction?

Consonant as an Adjective

Consonant is also used as an adjective within a sentence which is synonymous with agreeable, in agreement, or consistent. See the example sentence below,

• Nothing is more consonant with Nature than that she puts into operation in the smallest detail that which she intends as a whole. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

Types of Consonants

Consonants can be categorized into several types based on their articulation and characteristics. Two important distinctions are between voiced and voiceless consonants, as well as hard and soft consonants.Voiced vs. Voiceless Consonants:

Voiced consonants occur when the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation of the sound.

• The sound /b/ in “bat” is voiced; you can feel the vibration in your throat when pronouncing it.

Voiceless consonants are produced without vocal cord vibration.

• The sound /p/ in “pat” is voiceless; there’s no vibration when you say it.

Hard vs. Soft Consonants

Hard consonants are those that create a stronger, more abrupt sound.

• The sound /k/ in “cat” is a hard consonant, producing a sharp, clear sound.

Soft consonants have a gentler, more fluid sound.

• The sound /s/ in “see” is a soft consonant, characterized by its smoother articulation.

What Did You Learn?

As a grammatical term, consonants are speech sounds. Other than vowels, rests of the letters are all consonants, for instance, b, d, p, q, z, etc. Vowels and consonants, when paired together, make up syllables.