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English 1b3 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Conditionals with adverbs

Someone objected to the following sentence, saying "You can't use it with "tomorrow", because if it's about tomorrow you can't say it's impossible." He/She replaced tomorrow with 'by now'

If she were/was better tomorrow, she could get out of the hospital.

If she were/was better by now, she could get out of the hospital.

Is there any sense to this argument? If so, please explain.

Thank you
  

Top answer

Yes, there is some sense. Conditional 2 relates to unreal (impossible or improbable) situations-- so it sounds odd in the first sentence, since we don't know how she will be tomorrow. The second sentence carries a different meaning ('she is not better now'), though, so you cannot just substitute 'by now' for 'tomorrow'; rather, you must go to Conditional 1: 'If she's better tomorrow, she can get out of the hospital'.

— Mister Micawber

  • Yes, there is some sense.
  • Conditional 2 relates to unreal (impossible or improbable) situations-- so it sounds odd in the first sentence, since we don't know how she will be tomorrow.
  • The second sentence carries a different meaning ('she is not better now'), though, so you cannot just substitute 'by now' for 'tomorrow'; rather, you must go to Conditional 1: 'If she's better tomorrow, she can get out of the hospital'.
  • That is the natural statement to my mind.
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2 Answers
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Yes, there is some sense. Conditional 2 relates to unreal (impossible or improbable) situations-- so it sounds odd in the first sentence, since we don't know how she will be tomorrow. The second sentence carries a different meaning ('she is not better now'), though, so you cannot just substitute 'by now' for 'tomorrow'; rather, you must go to Conditional 1: 'If she's better tomorrow, she can g
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