[Grammar] First Conditional

Hi, I'm practising the conditionals and I thought of the following sentence:-

If she caught the plane, she will arrive on time.

I see it as a first conditional because it's real, possible but I can't find any information that permits me to use "caught" past tense in a first conditional.

I'm imagining myself at an airport talking to a friend about our friend who is coming to visit and I don't know if she caught the plane of not. At the time of speaking her plane had left the departure city.


Is my sentence correct? If it is, why can't I find information on the past tense in the first conditional.

Any help is apprecaite!
Thank you.

I find the traditional labels for conditional sentences most unhelpful. They just do not cover natural sentence such as this. You'll find some of my thoughts here: Conditional Sentences in English 1 - Articles - UsingEnglish.com

So my sentence is a 1st conditional!!!

Thank you for this and for the link to the other really helpful information. I'm going to study it.

Anne59 said:

So my sentence is a 1st conditional![STRIKE]!![/STRIKE] .

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I did not say that.

It is a conditional sentence stating that the possibility of the occurrence of a future event is dependent on a past situation having occurred.

If you said If she has caught the plane, she will arrive on time, then you could consider it as a first conditional. This would depend on looking on the present perfect as an aspect of the present tense, which not everybody would agree with.

Sorry!

When I read "If Michelle arrived, she’d brighten things up. (The possibility of her arrival is less than in #9.) I thought because of "possibility" it would be a 1st conditional.

Anne59 said:

When I read "If Michelle arrived, she’d brighten things up. (The possibility of her arrival is less than in #9.) I thought because of "possibility" it would be a 1st conditional.

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The tenses here place this sentence in the traditional 'second conditional' category. I don't know what you mean by '#9'.

I don't know what you mean by '#9'.

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It is from your article. :-D
9. If Michelle arrives, she’ll brighten things up. (It is possible that she will arrive.)
The second, a pessimist, might say: 10. If Michelle arrived, she’d brighten things up. (The possibility of her arrival is less than in #9.)
These two utterances may be contrasted with that of a third, far more optimistic, person, who views the arrival as certain.

Read more at https://www.usingenglish.com/articles/conditional-sentences-in-english-1.html#TGMvDEzRbaXfI2tW.99

anhnha said:

It is from your article. :-D
9. If Michelle arrives, she’ll brighten things up. (It is possible that she will arrive.)
The second, a pessimist, might say: 10. If Michelle arrived, she’d brighten things up. (The possibility of her arrival is less than in #9.)

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Fine, but your post made no sense without reference to my article.

With 'second conditional' sentences referring to future situations, there is a possibility, however remote, that the situation will occur. If the moon exploded tomorrow, I would be inconvenienced.

With 'second conditional' sentences referring to present situations, that situation is not occurring, if the moon were exploding now, I'd be inconvenienced. (I have just looked out of the window to check - it is not exploding.)