[Grammar] 'If he will message her when he gets back, it means he cares about her'

Are the tenses used correctly in that phrase? Or it's better to say 'if he messages her', although it's an action that might happen in the future?

'If he messages her...' is correct for an action that might happen in the future.

Cristina.W said:

Are the tenses used correctly in that phrase? Or it's better to say 'if he messages her', although it's an action that might happen in the future?

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I agree with Rover that the present tense should be used in your "if" clause. This creates a zero conditional which is used for general rules and things that are always true.

Cristina.W said:

Are the tenses used correctly in that phrase? Or it's better to say 'if he messages her', although it's an action that might happen in the future?

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I would consider "message(s)" as a verb in that context, or in any context for that matter, to be a rather clumsy term. Why not simply use "contact(s)"?

billmcd said:

I would consider "message(s)" as a verb in that context, or in any context for that matter, to be a rather clumsy term. Why not simply use "contact(s)"?

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It is very common these days.

I can safely say that most people I know use "to message" on a regular basis, as do I. Admittedly, I probably use "to email" or "to text" more often but I can't deny the adoption of "to message" into most people's vocabulary these days.

emsr2d2 said:

I can safely say that most people I know use "to message" on a regular basis, as do I. Admittedly, I probably use "to email" or "to text" more often but I can't deny the adoption of "to message" into most people's vocabulary these days.

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Obviously, I have led a very sheltered life, or cyberlife, but I must say that I have never heard anyone use "message" as a verb form or in the way as originally posted by ChristinaW. Rather, your alternate examples, in my experience are most common.

Part of the problem is that there are now other ways of contacting people online. For example, iMessage. It's not an email. It's not a text message and its not an "instant message" as such, although it works more like Messenger, AIM. It works between Apple devices but it doesn't fall under the other terms used. And then there's Facebook messaging!