If I got home late, my mom scolded me.

Status
Not open for further replies.

sb70012

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2013
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Persian
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
Hi,

If I got home late, my mom scolded me.

I saw the sentence in this website: http://www.grammaring.com/zero-condi...ndirect-speech
But I think it' grammatically incorrect. I mean the second part of the sentence doesn't make much sense to me because
there is no "would"
Do you agree with me?
It looks like this self made sentence:

If I saw an animal, I hunted it. (See... without "would" it doesn't make a good sense to me)

Any thoughts?

Thank you
 

MikeNewYork

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Hi,

If I got home late, my mom scolded me.

I saw the sentence in this website: http://www.grammaring.com/zero-condi...ndirect-speech
But I think it' grammatically incorrect. I mean the second part of the sentence doesn't make much sense to me because
there is no "would"
Do you agree with me?
It looks like this self made sentence:

If I saw an animal, I hunted it. (See... without "would" it doesn't make a good sense to me)

Any thoughts?

Thank you

The presence of "if" in an opening clause does not automatically require "would" in the following clause. Your sentence does not start with a condition that is presumed to be false, so an indicative verb is perfectly natural in the second clause. You could use "Whenever" instead of "If" in your sentence.
 
Last edited:

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
I presence of "if" in an opening clause does not automatically require "would" in the following clause. Your sentence does not start with a condition that is presumed to be false, so an indicative verb is perfectly natural in the second clause. You could use "Whenever" instead of "If" in your sentence.
:up:

It's even possible to use 'would' without making it a hypothetical conditional sentence:

My father wasn't too worried about my after-school activities but, if I got home late, my mom would scold me.
 

engee30

Key Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
England
In contexts like that, the whole structure is often referred to as 'false conditional'.
Would would be perfect in a true conditional sentence when speaking of a hypothetical situation. In such a case, you're just presuming what might happen if you got home late.
 

MikeNewYork

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
:up:

It's even possible to use 'would' without making it a hypothetical conditional sentence:

My father wasn't too worried about my after-school activities but, if I got home late, my mom would scold me.

Yes, I was going to add that but I didn't want to cause confusion. In your example the "would" indicates past habit. The problem is that it has the same format as a second conditional.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top