English conditional sentences

Prototypical conditional sentences in English are those of the form "If X, then Y". The clause X is referred to as the antecedent (or protasis), while the clause Y is called the consequent (or apodosis). A conditional is understood as expressing its consequent under the temporary hypothetical assumption of its antecedent. Conditional sentences can take numerous forms. The consequent can precede the "if"-clause and the word "if" itself may be omitted or replaced with a different complementizer. The consequent can be a declarative, an interrogative, or an imperative. Special tense morphology can be used to form a counterfactual conditional. Some linguists have argued that other superficially distinct grammatical structures such as wish reports have the same underlying structure as conditionals. Conditionals are one of the most widely studied phenomena in formal semantics, and have also been discussed widely in philosophy of language, computer science, decision theory, among other fields. In English conditional sentences, the antecedent (protasis) is a dependent clause, most commonly introduced by the complementizer if. Other complementizers may also be used, such as whenever, unless, provided (that), and as long as. Certain condition clauses can also be formulated using inversion without any conjunction; see below. The consequent clause, expressing the consequence of the stated condition, is generally a main clause. It can be a declarative, interrogative, or imperative clause. It may appear before or after the condition clause: If I see him, I will tell him. (declarative sentence, condition first) I will tell him if I see him. (declarative sentence, condition second) If you saw him, would you tell him? (interrogative sentence, condition first) Would you tell him if you saw him? (interrogative sentence, condition second) If you see it, photograph it. (imperative sentence, condition first) Photograph it if you see it.

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Concepts associés (2)

Uses of English verb forms

This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: Finite verb forms such as go, goes and went Nonfinite forms such as (to) go, going and gone Combinations of such forms with auxiliary verbs, such as was going and would have gone The uses considered include expression of tense (time reference), aspect, mood, modality and voice, in various configurations. For details of how inflected forms of verbs are produced in English, see English verbs.

Verbes modaux en anglais

Dans la grammaire anglaise, les verbes modaux ou auxiliaires de modalité sont des auxiliaires qui donnent le point de vue de l'énonciateur sur l'énoncé. Il s'agit de can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would, ought, had better, ainsi que dare et need (dans certains de leurs emplois). La modalité consiste pour l'énonciateur à apporter une modification de sens au contenu d'un énoncé. S'il désire exprimer qu'une chose est possible, nécessaire, probable, obligatoire, souhaitable, hypothétique ou certaine, il intercale un modal entre le sujet et le verbe (et ses éventuels compléments).