Real Conditionals

Real Conditionals
Author: William G. Lycan
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2005-12-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0191515906

Philosophers and logicians have long debated how best to understand conditional or hypothetical sentences. William G. Lycan has a distinctive approach to this debate, attending not just to the semantics of such sentences, but equally to their syntax. He shows how insights from linguistic theory help to illuminate problems about the meaning and function of conditionals. For instance, philosophers and logicians have had problems analysing the locutions 'only if', 'unless', and 'even if'. Lycan sets out a general semantic theory of conditionals which works for all such sentences; he assigns meanings to them in a way that explains how and why those meanings depend upon features of utterance context. According to Lycan's theory the 'if'-clauses refer to items called 'events', 'circumstances', or 'conditions'. Real Conditionals gives at last the definitive presentation of this original approach to a topic at the intersection of philosophy, logic, and linguistics. Lycan's characteristically lively and witty expository style ensures that it can be enjoyed by readers from all three disciplines.

English Conditional Sentences: Past, Present, Future; Real, Unreal Conditionals

English Conditional Sentences: Past, Present, Future; Real, Unreal Conditionals
Author: Manik Joshi
Publisher: Manik Joshi
Total Pages: 72
Release: 2014-10-25
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN:

"Conditional sentences” express factual implications, or hypothetical situations and their consequences. There are two clauses in conditional sentences: Dependent clause: Expresses the condition Main clause: Expresses the consequence This Book Covers The Following Topics: What are “Conditional Sentences”? Present Real Conditional Sentences Present Unreal Conditional Sentences Past Real Conditional Sentences Past Unreal Conditional Sentences Future Real Conditional Sentences Future Unreal Conditional Sentences Continuous Forms of Conditional Sentences Mixed Conditional Sentences 'Were To' - Conditional Sentences 'Special Force' - Conditional Sentences 'Wish'- Conditional Sentences 'Miscellaneous' - Conditional Sentences Conditional Sentences: Exercise – 1 Conditional Sentences: Exercise – 2 Summary Sample This: Present Real Conditional Sentences The Present Real Conditional Is Used To Talk About What You Normally Do In Real-Life Situations. STRUCTURE [First Part – If / When + Subject + Present Verb…, Second Part – Simple Present] OR [First Part – Simple Present, Second Part – If / When + Subject + Present Verb…] Whether Use “If” OR “When”? "If" implies - things don’t happen regularly. “When” implies - things happen regularly. If you eat too much fast food, it makes you overweight. Or [It makes you overweight if you eat too much fast food.] If you put salt on salad, they taste nicer. Or [They taste nicer if you put salt on salad.] When I have free time, I often sit in the library. [Regularly] Or [I often sit in the library when I have free time.] MORE EXAMPLES: [First Part – If / When + Subject + Present Verb…, Second Part – Simple Present] If I move to school, I never take my mobile. If you want to be a super-achiever, first recognize your own capabilities. If it melts, it raises the sea level. If something bad happens anywhere, it is natural to be sad. If you heat water, it boils. If the office closes early, we definitely go to the library. If you need help, call me. If I don’t come on time, you are supposed to leave the office. If you feel sleepy, just go to bed. If that isn’t absolute verification, I don’t know what is. If the contractors fail to achieve the target within the specified period, they are liable to pay damages. If you don't get the first good, be content with the second good. [Note: Use of Imperative Sentence] If you are working for something with convictions, you are satisfied. If proper punishment is not awarded to the accused, the faith of the society is shaken in the legal system of the country. [Note: Use of passive voice – is + awarded, and is + shaken] If uranium is bombarded with a neutron, it absorbs some. If a Swedish govt. is interested in such a deal at all, Sweden can negotiate for itself a better deal. If a person is abused repeatedly then that person has the right to object and the right to argue also. If my statement has pained someone then I regret it. If they have done something wrong that doesn’t mean I have also done something wrong. If the refugee cannot afford to pay, she may be refused access to the hospital or have her refugee card confiscated. [First Part – Simple Present, Second Part – If / When + Subject + Present Verb…] I have come to bother you if you don’t mind. We don’t even know if any person by that name exists. Their wages are cut if they do not report for duty on time. You learn a language better if you visit the country where it is spoken. Agency works under pressure if one goes by what the ex-Director says. I apologize if at all the article hurt anyone. Power companies can hike the tariffs if the cost of imported coal rises. Hang me if I am guilty. I meet him if I go there. Butter dissolves if you leave it in sun. Plants die if you don’t water them. Milk goes off if you don’t keep it in a cool place. Ask the officer if you have any problems. I don’t mind if you sit in my cabin. Customers get upset if they are being overcharged. I have no problem if her name is disclosed. They promised to slash power rates if they are elected. Existing laws can be a deterrent if a time-based trial is conducted. Do you mind if I turn on the radio for a while? A death row convict cannot be executed if he is not physically and mentally fit. A student may not be motivated to work hard if a promotion is guaranteed. Many of the deaths can be avoided if bikers wear helmets. I go by taxi when the bus is late.

On Conditionals Again

On Conditionals Again
Author: Angeliki Athanasiadou
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 427
Release: 1997-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 902723647X

The volume brings together a selection of papers from a symposium on Conditionality held in the University of Duisburg on 25-26 March 1994. Ten years after the Stanford symposium, the Proceedings of which were edited by Traugott et al. (1986), the area of conditionality is revisited in a synthesis of issues and aspects with insights drawn from the wider framework of general processes of conceptualisation. One major question is therefore what conceptual categories fall under conditionality or how far the notion of conditionality can be extended. The volume represents the up-to-date research on most aspects of conditionality some of which include the relationship between conditionality, hypotheticality and counterfactuality, polarity, historical perspectives, concessives, the acquisition of conditionals.

A Philosophical Guide to Conditionals

A Philosophical Guide to Conditionals
Author: Jonathan Bennett
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2003-04-03
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 019153174X

Conditional sentences are among the most intriguing and puzzling features of language: analysis of their meaning and function has important implications for, and uses in, many areas of philosophy. Jonathan Bennett, one of the world's leading experts, distils many years' work and teaching into this Philosophical Guide to Conditionals, the fullest and most authoritative treatment of the subject. The literature on conditionals is difficult - needlessly so. Bennett's treatment is meticulously careful and luminously clear. He presents and evaluates in detail various approaches to the understanding of 'indicative' conditionals (like 'If Shakespeare didn't write Hamlet, some aristocrat did') and 'subjunctive' conditionals (like 'If rabbits had not been deliberately introduced into New Zealand, there would be none there today'); and he offers his own view, which will be recognized as a major original contribution to the subject. Journeying through this intellectual territory brings one into contact with the metaphysics of possible worlds, probability and belief-change, probability and logic, the pragmatics of conversation, determinism, ambiguity, vagueness, the law of excluded middle, facts versus events, and more. One might perhaps learn more philosophy from a thorough study of conditionals than from any other kind of work. Bennett's Guide is an ideal introduction for undergraduates with a philosophical grounding, and will also be a rich source of illumination and stimulation for graduate students and professional philosophers.

Conditionals

Conditionals
Author: Renaat Declerck
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 556
Release: 2012-08-09
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110851741

This book is an extremely detailed and comprehensive examination of conditional sentences in English, using many examples from actual language-use. The syntax and semantics of conditionals (including tense and mood options) and the functions of conditionals in discourse are examined in depth, producing an all-round linguistic view of the subject which contains a wealth of original observations and analyses. Not only linguists specializing in grammar but also those interested in pragmatics and the philosophy of language will find this book a rewarding and illuminating source.

Coding the Hypothetical

Coding the Hypothetical
Author: Jane F. Hacking
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 167
Release: 1998
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027230412

Conditionals encode speculation. They convey how events could have been different in the past or present, or might be different in the future if particular conditions had been or will be met. While all languages afford the means to speculate or hypothesize about possible events, the ways in which they do so vary. This work explores some of this variation through an analysis of the stucture and semantics of complex conditional sentences in Russian and Macedonian. It addresses typological questions about the general properties of natural language conditionals and examines the role of the grammatical categories tense, aspect, mood and status in the coding of conditional meaning. The book also discusses the relationship between the use of these categories and the shape of a language's conditional system. For example, the use of tense in counterfactual contexts in Macedonian correlates with the grammaticalization of more shades of conditional meaning than are grammaticalized in Russian, which does not employ tense forms in this way. The study draws on data from a rich variety of sources and thus includes kinds of conditionals overlooked in many other studies. The book addresses issues of concern to Slavists and raises questions for those interested in conditionals and the coding of hypothetical meaning.

Improve Your Grammar

Improve Your Grammar
Author: Vanessa Jakeman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2022-04-07
Genre: Study Aids
ISBN: 1350933643

Packed with clear guidance on the nuts and bolts of grammar and plenty of examples, this text will help students master the fundamentals of English grammar and tackle written assignments with confidence. 60+ bite-sized units help students overcome common areas of difficulty, such as forming different tenses, using connectives to link ideas and build an argument, punctuating sentences and choosing the right words. Each unit is presented on a double-page spread, making it easy for students to flick through the book and quickly find the unit they need. Short, focused exercises at the end of each unit - with answers provided at the back of the book - make this text ideal for both self-study and classroom use. This 3rd edition contains four new units on hedging, being critical and collocation. Improve Your Grammar is an essential resource for students of all disciplines and levels wanting to excel at writing, and can be used as a self-study workbook or on tutor-led grammar modules.

Oratio Obliqua, Oratio Recta

Oratio Obliqua, Oratio Recta
Author: François Récanati
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2000
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780262681162

Among the entities that can be mentally or linguistically represented are mental and linguistic representations themselves. That is, we can think and talk about speech and thought. This phenomenon is known as metarepresentation. An example is "Authors believe that people read books." In this book François Recanati discusses the structure of metarepresentation from a variety of perspectives. According to him, metarepresentations have a dual structure: their content includes the content of the object-representation (people reading books) as well as the "meta" part (the authors' belief). Rejecting the view that the object representation is mentioned rather than used, Recanati claims that since metarepresentations carry the content of the object representation, they must be about whatever the object representation is about. Metarepresentations are fundamentally transparent because they work by simulating the representation they are about. Topics covered in this wide-ranging work include the analysis of belief reports and talk about fiction, world shifting, opacity and substitutivity, quotation, the relation between direct and indirect discourse, context shifting, semantic pretense, and deference in language and thought.

Language Typology and Syntactic Description: Volume 2, Complex Constructions

Language Typology and Syntactic Description: Volume 2, Complex Constructions
Author: Timothy Shopen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2007-10-04
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1139467298

This unique three-volume 2007 survey brings together a team of leading scholars to explore the syntactic and morphological structures of the world's languages. Clearly organized and broad-ranging, it covers topics such as parts-of-speech, passives, complementation, relative clauses, adverbial clauses, inflectional morphology, tense, aspect, mood, and diexis. The contributors look at the major ways that these notions are realized, and provide informative sketches of them at work in a range of languages. Each volume is accessibly written and clearly explains each new concept introduced. Although the volumes can be read independently, together they provide an indispensable reference work for all linguists and fieldworkers interested in cross-linguistic generalizations. Most of the chapters in the second edition are substantially revised or completely new - some on topics not covered by the first edition. Volume II covers co-ordination, complementation, noun phrase structure, relative clauses, adverbial clauses, discourse structure, and sentences as combinations of clauses.