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What's the difference in these sentences...I can't make it out:

If I get a bonus this year, I can pay off my overdraft. If I got a bonus this year, I could pay off my overdraft.

I could understand the second if I was in the past perfect. As they are, how do they differ? Thanks.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

Good question.
If I got a bonus I could.
If I get a bonus I can.
Seems to me to have the same meaning.

Usenet · Answer

Lee Pepplewick:
[nq:1]What's the difference in these sentences...I can't make it out: If I get a bonus this year, I can pay off my overdraft. If I got a bonus this year, I could pay off my overdraft.[/nq]
The second version suggests that getting a bonus this year is unlikely; the first version does not.

Mark Brader, Toronto "Well, I'm back", he said. (Email Removed) Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]What's the difference in these sentences...I can't make it out: If I get a bonus this year, I can pay ... I could understand the second if I was in the past perfect. As they are, how do they differ? Thanks.[/nq]
I don't see any real difference between the "If I get.../If I got...". I have a suspicion that "If I got..." is not correct, but...

However, the difference between "can" and "could" is substantial. "Can" refers to the ability to perform. "Could" refers to the possibility of performing. It's the difference between saying "I am able to pay", and "There's a (perhaps low) probability that I will pay."

Wake

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]What's the difference in these sentences...I can't make it out: ... past perfect. As they are, how do they differ? Thanks.[/nq]
[nq:1]I don't see any real difference between the "If I get.../If I got...". I have a suspicion that "If I ... difference between saying "I am able to pay", and "There's a (perhaps low) probability that I will pay. Wake[/nq]
If someone says to me 'I could pay you' that tells me they have the ability to do so - any more or any less is assumption. The same applies if I am told 'I can pay you'.

Usenet · Answer

In our last episode,
(Email Removed), the lovely and talented lee
broadcast on alt.usage.english:
[nq:1]What's the difference in these sentences...I can't make it out: If I get a bonus this year, I can pay ... I could understand the second if I was in the past perfect. As they are, how do they differ? Thanks.[/nq]
The second implies "but I will not get a bonus this year." The first expresses nothing about the likelihood of getting a bonus this year.

Lars Eighner ~~finger for geek code~~ (Email Removed) http://www.io.com/~eighner/ "The very essence of the creative is its novelty, and hence we have no standard by which to judge it." Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person

Usenet · Answer

Try writing in the (unwritten) words that would fit:
[nq:1]I have been promissed a bonus, and if I get a bonus this year, I can pay off my overdraft. I never get a bonus, but if I got a bonus this year, I could pay off my overdraft.[/nq]
Now it says me a lot.
MOTU

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]What's the difference in these sentences...I can't make it out: If I get a bonus this year, I can pay ... I could understand the second if I was in the past perfect. As they are, how do they differ? Thanks.[/nq]
Don't Americans say "If I would get a bonus this year..."?

Adrian

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Try writing in the (unwritten) words that would fit:[/nq]
[nq:2]I have been promissed a bonus, and if I get a bonus this year, I can pay off my overdraft.[/nq]
Except that, myself, I'd resist repeating "a bonus" so soon. "One" is more likely. Maybe if I was really angry and was enunciating every syllable, for emphasis... Pounding the table, even.
[nq:2]I never get a bonus, but if I got a bonus this year, I could pay off my overdraft.[/nq]
If it's said that strongly "never get" then I'd have to put it as:

I never get a bonus, but if I were to get one this year, I could pay off my overdraft.
Is that "were to get" the sort of subjunctive that theoretically is not found in the UK-Plus these days? It signals impossibility or extreme unlikelihood.

Best Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]If I get a bonus this year, I can pay ... past perfect. As they are, how do they differ? Thanks.[/nq]
[nq:1]Don't Americans say "If I would get a bonus this year..."?[/nq]
Not really - it sounds somewhat possible, but I can't think of a likely set-up. There's this sort:
He wondered if I would get a bonus this year...
And there's these (depending on intended meaning):

If I did get a bonus...
If I had gotten a bonus...
If I were to get a bonus...

Best Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]What's the difference in these sentences...I can't make it out: If I get a bonus this year, I can pay ... I could understand the second if I was in the past perfect. As they are, how do they differ? Thanks.[/nq]
Note that it is (just barely, and somewhat artificially) possible to make a similar pairing of sentences in the past:
"If I got a bonus this year, I can pay off my overdraft." "If I had gotten a bonus this year, I could have paid off my overdraft."
In the second sentence we clearly have in the if-clause a statement contrary to fact. In the first one, we are in the unusual position of knowing that the bonuses have already been distributed, but not knowing whether we ourselves received one.
In the degenerate state in which the English subjunctive finds itself "If I got a bonus..." is a replacement for "If I were to get a bonus...".
The general characteristic of the subjunctive is that it is associated with some kind of unreality. Thus, "If I were to get..." must be seen as further from reality than "If I get...". It's true that both contain uncertainty. And it's not possible to say exactly how much uncertainty is associated with either one. We can , however, say for sure that in the second sentence it is less likely that the speaker will get a bonus than it is in the first sentence.
Now, I don't entirely disagree with the poster who said that the difference lies in the probability that the overdraft will be paid off, but I'm far from totally agreeing with him. It may be true that if a speaker says, "If I get a bonus, I could pay off my overdraft" is merely stating one among many possibilities, while the one who says "...I can pay off my overdraft" shows some intention to use the bonus for that purpose. But, strictly speaking, the use of the indicative in the first sentence, the conditional in the second is simply due to the grammatical fact that the subjunctive in an if-clause requires the conditional in the main clause, whereas the indicative in the if- clause is normally followed by an indicative in the main clause.

If the speaker truly intends to pay off the overdraft, then he will say either "If I get a bonus, I will pay off my overdraft," or "If I got/were to get a bonus, I would pay off my overdraft."

Gary Williams

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