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Anonymous Posted 21 years ago
Linguistics Studies
History of a term.
Does anyone know where the term "zero conditional" comes from and why we use it for labeling the "unchanging Laws of Existence" conditional?
What does that "zero" mean there?
(Looking for a bit of etymology here and not a desription of zero conditionals per se.)
What does that "zero" mean there?
(Looking for a bit of etymology here and not a desription of zero conditionals per se.)
Top answer
I don't know the answer, anon. But I note that the phrase often takes inverted commas, which suggests that people aren't altogether comfortable with the phrase. So here's a wild guess, to bump your thread up: Once upon a time, grammarians talked about three kinds of conditional if-statement: our types 1, 2 and 3.
- I don't know the answer, anon.
- But I note that the phrase often takes inverted commas, which suggests that people aren't altogether comfortable with the phrase.
- So here's a wild guess, to bump your thread up: Once upon a time, grammarians talked about three kinds of conditional if-statement: our types 1, 2 and 3.
- At that time, the "zero conditional" wasn't regarded as a true conditional, because it embodies fact, rather than hypothesis.
- ) Later, this was found to be rather inconvenient.
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1 Answers
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I don't know the answer, anon. But I note that the phrase often takes inverted commas, which suggests that people aren't altogether comfortable with the phrase.
So here's a wild guess, to bump your thread up:
Once upon a time, grammarians talked about three kinds of conditional if-statement: our types 1, 2 and 3.
At that time, the "zero conditional" wasn't regarded as a
So here's a wild guess, to bump your thread up:
Once upon a time, grammarians talked about three kinds of conditional if-statement: our types 1, 2 and 3.
At that time, the "zero conditional" wasn't regarded as a
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