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NSFS Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Zero conditional

Hi,

Is it possible to replace zero conditional with first conditional?And if so, how does the meaning change?E.g.,

If you heat water, it will boil.
If you heat water, it boils.

Thanks.
  

Top answer

" This is not to say that in this particular instance "If you heat water, it boils" is incorrect. " I might just add, however, that if you heat water, it will become warm . If you heat water to 100°C, it will boil.

— JohnParis

  • " This is not to say that in this particular instance "If you heat water, it boils" is incorrect.
  • " I might just add, however, that if you heat water, it will become warm .
  • If you heat water to 100°C, it will boil.
  • If you heat water to 212°F, it boils.
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2 Answers
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"If you heat water, it will boil" is grammatical and I prefer it's use over "If you heat water, it boils." This is not to say that in this particular instance "If you heat water, it boils" is incorrect. "Will" is implicit in "it boils."
I might just add, however, that if you heat water, it will become warm.
If you heat water to 100°C, it will boil.
If you heat water to 21
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Hi,
Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.

If you heat water to 100 degrees Celsius, it boils -- The use of the zero conditional is correct: this is a scientific fact
and is, therefore, always considered true.

If you heat water, it will boil -- Possibly, but not necessarily. You can heat water to 70 degrees Celsius, and you
will see it is only hot. The use of the first c
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