Sunday, 14 February 2016

grammar - Use of will in condition clauses

Found the answer to a question in the same article on Wikipedia (which I've added after some more googling):




However there are certain situations where will can appear in a condition clause. One type of situation is referred to above under zero conditional, where will expresses futurity, but the sentence as a whole expresses factual implication rather than a potential future circumstance: "If aspirins will cure it, I'll take a couple tonight" (the taking is not a consequence of the curing, but a consequence of the expectation that they will cure).



More commonly, will appears in condition clauses where it has a modal meaning, rather than marking the future. Relevant meanings include willingness, persistence, or strong disapproval.


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