So, my wife (L1 Vietnamese) continues to find problems with conditional sentences in children's books. (For the previous one she spotted, see HERE).
According to the rules of the first conditional, (as presented in textbooks for students of English as a second language) the form is "if+ present simple, will + base form" e.g. "If it's nice tomorrow, I'll go to the beach." In other words, the present simple should be used in the if-clause, and the will future in the result clause. (See my worksheets on the first conditional, and on conditionals). (Other future forms like "going to" can also be used in the result clause).
However, in the nursery rhyme "Hush Little Baby", there are two examples of won't being used in the if-clause. See below.
Hush, little baby, don't say a word.I've read in some grammar books that the ESL textbooks are actually over-simplifying the conditionals, and in reality a lot of different structures are possible. So this was my first response to my wife.
Papa's going to buy you a mockingbird
And if that mockingbird won't sing,
Papa's going to buy you a diamond ring
And if that diamond ring turns brass,
Papa's going to buy you a looking glass
And if that looking glass gets broke,
Papa's going to buy you a billy goat
And if that billy goat won't pull,
Papa's going to buy you a cart and bull
And if that cart and bull turn over,
Papa's going to buy you a dog named Rover.
And if that dog named Rover won't bark,
Papa's going to buy you a horse and cart.
And if that cart and bull fall down,
You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town
Upon looking at this poem more carefully, my second response is that "will" here is not being used as a future marker, but as a marker of intentionality.
And that's my best guess at it. Anyone else have further thoughts?
2 comments:
Just discovered your blog. Great resources and ideas. Love it!
You're absolutely right.....
won't is used with present meaning to mean "refuse to" or "is not willing to" (also with inanimate objects too e.g. My car won't start )
"If that Mocking bird refuses to sing" so the meaning is present - it follows the 1st Conditional rule.
The first conditional may be a bit oversimplified in text books but maybe we also oversimplify/align our tense system to other languages (?) and that creates assumptions that will/won't is a "future tense".
In reality, English has only 2 official TENSES : Present and Past.
Modal verbs do not express tense, per se. They express other things and we apply present, past or future meaning to them through mood/modality.
We have to look at ASPECT, MOOD & MODALITY, VOICE to find a more complete understanding of how verbs really work in English.
Cheers from a EFL teacher in Italy!
Byee
That makes sense. Thank you for the comment and explanation.
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