Conditional - If Clauses

Definition of a conditional clause
A conditional clause is a type of subordinate clause, most commonly introduced by the conjunction if or unless.  Like most subordinate clauses introduced by a conjunction, the conditional clause can either go before the main clause, or after it

1. Open if clause - the open conditional statement :

This usually refers to a future event which is conditional on another future event.
The verb of the main clause is in the future tense with "will" (or sometimes another modal).

The verb of the conditional clause is in the simple present tense.

• If you eat too much, you'll get fatter
•  You'll get fatter if you eat too much
• If everyone works fast, we'll finish in time
• We won't finish in time unless everyone works fast.
• If I go to London, I can visit the British Museum.
• If you visit Scotland, you should visit Edinburgh Castle
• Unless the directors can increase sales, we'll have to close this shop.

Occasionally, the open conditional statement describes one potential state of reality or circumstance which is dependent on another.  In this case, both verbs are in the presenttense.

• If I sleep well at night, I feel much happier next morning
• If the temperature falls below zero, it freezes.
• If it rains, everyone gets wet.   

In an open conditional statement, if is sometimes replaced by when: but there is a difference. Using "if" implies that the condition really is open and may not be fulfilled, using "when" implies that the condition will be fulfilled, that the event will really take place.

2. Type 2 if clauses - the open hypothetical conditional statement:

This refers to a possible future situation which depends on on another possible future situation. The verb of the main clause uses the present conditional tense (would + infinitive, orcould +infinitive);
The verb of the conditional clause normally uses the present subjunctive or preterite (these two tenses are identical except with to be). Occasionally, the conditional aspect of the statement can be emphasised by using the form were + to + infinitive.

• 1A  If you ate too much, you'd (you would) get fatter.
• 1B  You'd get fatter if you ate too much.
• 2A  If everyone worked faster, we would / could finish in time.
• 2B  We wouldn't finish in time unless everyone worked faster.
• 2C  If everyone were to work faster, we would/could finish in time.
• 3    If I went to London, I would / could visit the British Museum.
• 4.   If you visited Scotland, you could see Edinburgh Castle.
• 5    Unless the directors increased sales, we'd have to close this shop.

Note also this common expression (which uses the open hypothetical form, though it is clearly quite impossible!)

• 6.   If I were you, I'd ..........   

As in:  If I were you, I'd go a bit slower  /  If I were you, I'd put that gun down !!

This form is also used in cases of reported speech.

• My professor told me I'd do much better if I worked harder.
• The magistrate informed him that he'd go to prison unless he stopped stealing.
• The newspaper reported that unless the directors could increase sales, they'd have to close the shop.

3. Type 3 if clauses - the unfulfilled hypothesis

This refers to a situation which an event might have taken place, but did not, because a condition was not fulfilled.
The verb of the main  clause goes in the past conditional (would have + past participle).
The verb of the conditional clause goes in the past perfect (had + past participle).

 Examples:

• If you had eaten too much, you'd (you would) have got fatter.
• You'd have got fatter if you'd eaten too much.
• If everyone had worked fast, we'd have finished in time (but we didn't).
• We wouldn't have finished in time unless everyone had worked fast (but we did).
• If I had gone to London, I could have visited the British Museum (but I didn't).
• If you had visited Scotland, you could have visited Edinburgh Castle (but you didn't).
• Unless we'd been very confident of success, we wouldn't have even tried.   (But we were confident, we did try, and we succeeded).

Note: using " unless"

"Unless" means the same as "if ... not", and has a negative value. It is frequently (but not only) used in conditional statements where the verb of the main clause is also  in the negative.

• You wouldn't have fallen over unless there'd been a banana skin on the ground.
• =   You wouldn't have fallen over if there hadn't been a banana skin on the ground. 

4  Omission of "if", with inversion.

Sometimes, hypothetical conditional statements or unfulfilled hypothetical statementscan be expressed omitting the word if. When this happens the subject follows the auxiliary verb in the conditional clause

Examples:

• Were the virus to reappear, hospitals would now be ready for it. (open hypothesis)
• =   If the virus reappeared, hospitals would now be ready for it.
• or  If the virus were to reappear, hospitals would now be ready for it.
• Had I known, I'd never have gone there (unfulfilled hypothesis; implying "I did go there because I did not know".)
• =  If I had known, I'd never have gone there.

Sumber :
http://linguapress.com/grammar/conditionals.htm
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/if.htm
http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/conditional/

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

In English grammar, countable nouns are individual people, animals, places, things, or ideas which can be counted. Uncountable nouns are not individual objects, so they cannot be counted. Here, we’ll take a look at countable and uncountable nouns and provide both countable noun examples and uncountable noun examples. Although the concept may seem challenging, you’ll soon discover that these two different noun types are very easy to use.

Countable Noun Examples

Anything that can be counted, whether singular – a dog, a house, a friend, etc. or plural – a few books, lots of oranges, etc. is a countable noun. The following countable noun examples will help you to see the difference between countable and uncountable nouns. Notice that singular verbs are used with singular countable nouns, while plural verbs are used with plural countable nouns.

Example:

1.      There are at least twenty Italian restaurants in Little Italy.

2.      Megan took a lot of photographs when she went to the Grand Canyon.

3.      Your book is on the kitchen table.

4.      How many candles are on that birthday cake?

5.      You have several paintings to study in art appreciation class.

6.      There’s a big brown dog running around the neighborhood.

Uncountable Noun Examples

Anything that cannot be counted is an uncountable noun. Even though uncountable nouns are not individual objects, they are always singular and one must always use singular verbs in conjunction with uncountable nouns. The following uncountable noun examples will help you to gain even more understanding of how countable and uncountable nouns differ from one another. Notice that singular verbs are always used with uncountable nouns.

Example :

1.      There is no more water in the pond.

2.      Please help yourself to some cheese.

3.      I need to find information about Pulitzer Prize winners.

4.      You seem to have a high level of intelligence.

5.      Please take good care of your equipment.

6.      Let’s get rid of the garbage.

Uncountable nouns can be paired with words expressing plural concept. Using these words can make your writing more specific. Here are some examples of how to format interesting sentences with uncountable nouns.

• Garbage – There are nine bags of garbage on the curb.

• Water – Try to drink at least eight glasses of water each day.

• Advice – She gave me a useful piece of advice.

• Bread – Please buy a loaf of bread.

• Furniture – A couch is a piece of furniture.

• Equipment – A backhoe is an expensive piece of equipment.

• Cheese – Please bag ten slices of cheese for me.

Sumber :

http://www.gingersoftware.com/content/grammar-rules/nouns/countable-uncountable-nouns/

http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/countable-and-uncountable-nouns/

http://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/countable-uncountable-nouns.htm

My Holiday's Activities

Last holiday, I went to Bandung with my friends. First, we visited Farm House in Lembang. For entry fee we had to pay Rp 20.000 each person. We took some pictures in front of the dwarf's house. We gave some vegetables for animal's feeding in farm house. There are rabbits, goats, and iguanas. Farm House had not too big area. We just spent 2 hours in Farm House because of the rain. After that, we visited Alun-Alun bandung city. We took a rest in mosque's garden. In the garden we could have a sit in synthetic grass. Before we went to jakarta we prayed in the biggest mosque in Bandung city of Alun-Alun Bandung. I arrived in Jakarta on the midnight. And the next day, I attended Laboratory's Asisstant Training in Gunadarma University J1 Kalimalang. I learned about service company and trade company, we did some journals and answered questions. The training started from 9 am to 4 pm. And the last day of training, we learned about DEA software. Like the day before, the training started from 9 am to 4 pm. Finally my holiday was over, and the next day I started 6th semester in my campus and I would be busy for scientific research.