If + PRESENT SIMPLE + MODAL CLAUSE – English Grammar Profiler

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 74 in the category of CLAUSES/conditional is defined as:

PRESENT SIMPLE ‘IF’ CLAUSE + MODAL, FUTURE, POSSIBLE OUTCOME:

introduce a possible future condition, with modal verbs in the main clause, to talk about a possible result.

A search in TED corpus for expert examples:

If you‘ve got a couple of final words you want to share, that would be great.

listen

So if you look that up, you can hear more of those tunes.

listen

PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE:

On the other hand, TV may waste someone‘s time if watching it is not controlled.

Arabic, Level 3, Writing Class.

A search in iWeb for:

If _P _VV0 * *

1 IF YOU WANT TO BE 40558 2 IF YOU WANT TO GET 39376 3 IF YOU LOOK AT THE 37138 4 IF YOU WANT TO MAKE 30668 5 IF YOU WANT TO USE 30020 6 IF YOU WANT TO SEE 27865 7 IF YOU WANT TO KNOW 24894 8 IF YOU WANT TO GO 17392 9 IF YOU WANT TO DO 16614 10 IF YOU LIVE IN A 16145 11 IF YOU WANT TO LEARN 16039 12 IF YOU WANT TO HAVE 15927

13 IF YOU WANT TO KEEP 15277 *The following example is A2 grammar because there is no modal verb.

Go with my soldiers and hurry back if you want to keep these cockroaches.

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14 IF YOU WANT TO TAKE 13550 15 IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT 13531

16 IF YOU WANT TO ADD 12719

17 IF YOU WANT TO TRY 11047 18 IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE 10143 19 IF YOU WANT TO FIND 9280

20 IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE 9219 (This is probably C1.  Happen to do something.)

21 IF YOU LIVE IN THE 9182 22 IF YOU WANT TO PLAY 8807 23 IF YOU KNOW HOW TO 8766 24 IF YOU WANT TO CREATE 8532 25 IF YOU SIGN UP FOR 8508 26 IF YOU GO TO THE 7938 27 IF YOU ASK ME . 7694

28 IF YOU WANT TO SAVE 7598 *Another example of A2 grammar because the modal verb is ‘will’

If you want to save him and see her again, you will find the missing piece and bring it to me.

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29 IF YOU KNOW WHAT I 7379
30 IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN 6373 31 IF YOU WANT TO AVOID 6369 32 IF YOU WANT IT TO 6367

33 IF YOU CLICK ON THE 6204

34 IF YOU NEED TO . 6093 35 IF YOU WANT TO . 6072 36 IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, 6002 37 IF YOU WANT TO BUY 5926 38 IF YOU CHOOSE NOT TO 5843 39 IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE 5733 40 IF YOU WANT TO STAY 5728 41 IF YOU WANT TO GIVE 5726 42 IF YOU LIVE IN AN 5713

43 IF YOU WANT TO CHECK 5711

44 IF YOU WANT, YOU 5607

45 IF YOU WANT TO BUILD 5541

46 IF YOU FEEL LIKE YOU 5515 47 IF WE LOOK AT THE 5470 48 IF YOU WANT TO START 5419 49 IF YOU WANT TO READ 5362 50 IF YOU NEED TO MAKE 5343

51 IF YOU PLAN TO USE 5316

52 IF YOU LIKE. 5226 53 IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE 5221 54 IF YOU WANT TO WORK 5220

55 IF YOU WANT. 5095

56 IF YOU WISH TO USE 5083 (most of these are followed with imperatives in the following clause. The example below is hidden beneath another B1 grammar point: verb patterns)

57 IF YOU FIND THAT YOU 5075
58 IF YOU WISH. 5051 59 IF YOU ASK ME, 4929 60 IF YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE 4904 61 IF YOU NEED IT . 4841 62 IF YOU WANT TO RUN 4795 63 IF YOU NEED HELP WITH 4716 64 IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU 4579 65 IF YOU TAKE A LOOK 4526

66 IF YOU PREFER, YOU 4395

67 IF YOU WANT TO, 4378 68 IF YOU THINK YOU CAN 4286 69 IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU 4274 70 IF YOU WANT TO LOOK 4219

71 IF YOU DECIDE TO GO 4114

72 IF YOU WANT TO BECOME 4090 73 IF YOU TAKE THE TIME 4022

74 IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE 4013

75 IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND 4011 76 IF YOU NEED ANY HELP 3898 77 IF YOU NEED TO GET 3892 78 IF YOU LOOK AT IT 3800 79 IF YOU WANT TO TALK 3798 80 IF YOU NEED TO USE 3781 81 IF YOU RUN OUT OF 3778 82 IF YOU NEED TO CHANGE 3755 83 IF YOU GO TO A 3747 84 IF YOU WANT ME TO 3742 85 IF YOU WANT THEM TO 3717

86 IF YOU WISH TO HAVE 3707

87 IF YOU DECIDE TO USE 3650

88 IF YOU THINK YOU ARE 3646
89 IF YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION 3617 90 IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU 3594 91 IF YOU WANT, BUT 3502 92 IF YOU WANT TO SEND 3467 93 IF YOU KNOW OF ANY 3464 94 IF YOU WANT A MORE 3441 95 IF YOU WANT THE BEST 3412 96 IF YOU WANT TO HELP 3398 97 IF YOU KNOW WHERE TO 3387 98 IF YOU THINK YOU MAY 3376 99 IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY, 3373

100 IF YOU WISH TO MAKE 3349

A2 vocabulary:

add, become, build, check, click, decide, happen, if, information, keep, mind, mistake, out, plan, prefer, save, try, wish, yourself

Other research notes

This point should mention which modal verbs. Because the use of ‘can’ is A2. The use of ‘will’ is also A2. If we look at the EGP examples, they could also be listed at A2 as polite suggestions or offers to refer to what is true now or a situation that is very likely to happen.