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Jenniferunagi Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

If problem

Hi all,

Does If follows a past tense verb or present tense verb?

Cheers,

JenniferUnagi
  

Top answer

Hi JenniferUnagi, Both, actually. You can't force him to sing if he had a tooth pulled this morning. You can't force him to sing if he has a toothache.

— JohnParis

  • Hi JenniferUnagi, Both, actually.
  • You can't force him to sing if he had a tooth pulled this morning.
  • You can't force him to sing if he has a toothache.
  • I'm not sure if he ate broccoli for lunch.
  • In fact, I'm not sure if he eats broccoli.
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2 Answers
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Hi JenniferUnagi,

Both, actually.

You can't force him to sing if he had a tooth pulled this morning.

You can't force him to sing if he has a toothache.

I'm not sure if he ate broccoli for lunch. In fact, I'm not sure if he eats broccoli.

Hope this helps,

John
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JohnParisYou can't force him to sing if he had a tooth pulled this morning.
From a conversation point of view, both are fine, but the 2nd one is much preferred. The first one:

If we take the "if" (as a conditional) approach, this is a mixed conditional and strictly speaking it is incorract.

But If we change "had" to "has":
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