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Wowenglish Posted 14 years ago
Vocabulary

It/if

I would like to know the meaning of "It" and "if" grammatically.
It doesn't matter if you don't win every time.
  

Top answer

'it' is a dummy 'it', an anticipatory 'it'. 'it' = if you don't win every time Thus: [ if you don't win every time ] doesn't matter. ~ [ your winning every time ] doesn't matter.

— CalifJim

  • 'it' is a dummy 'it', an anticipatory 'it'.
  • 'it' = if you don't win every time Thus: [ if you don't win every time ] doesn't matter.
  • ~ [ your winning every time ] doesn't matter.
  • ______________ You will almost certainly get other opinions on this, so wait for more replies.
  • CJ
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2 Answers
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'it' is a dummy 'it', an anticipatory 'it'.

'it' = if you don't win every time

Thus:

[ if you don't win every time ] doesn't matter.
~
[ your winning every time ] doesn't matter.

______________

You will almost certainly get other opinions on this, so wait for more replies.

CJ
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As far as I can tell, the "if" in your sentence has the meaning of "whether".

It doesn't matter whether (or not) you win every time. (you normally need a positive verb with "whether").

This is not a true conditional sentence since "if" can be replaced with "whether".
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