Use should instead of if

Members Current visitors. Interface Language. Log in. Install the app. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. Thread starter Zander Start date Oct 5, Zander New Member Mexico City.

Hello Everybody, If I am not mistaken, "should" can be used as a conditional instead of "if", right? Could somebody tell me whether this sentence is right and if it is frequent to use sentences like this: Should he study hard, no doubt he would pass this course.

If he studied hard, Thanks. Zander said:. Click to expand Another difference between AE and BE. Here in the UK, it's fine to say "Should he study hard It's simple an inversion of "If he should study hard But it's not the conditional, it's one of the few remaining examples of the subjunctive in English. My question is when native speakers use "should" instead of "if" to make conditional clause. Is there any specific condition, or is it just a matter of preference? This usage and placement of should is indeed a shorter way of expressing if following the example the travel program went ahead note the grammatical flexion of to go here.

Both sentences are fine, the example is just slightly more formal in tone and may be emphasizing the condition on the action in question and its consequences more strongly - this is beyond the scope of your question but I would read it as recommending against carrying on with the program and emphasizing the hoped for unlikeliness of that.

On all other accounts, it would be rather preferential, and the form using should could also happen for unrelated secondary reasons such as saving space in a very short newspaper article or the like. The more formal form would be less used in informal speech though, unless you really want to stress the point. In very casual speech, it would be slightly odd to use otherwise. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top.

Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. I don't have a strong opinion on the matter one way or the other. Note that for a condition that is generally true, as in all the examples above, we use if plus the present simple in the subordinate clause and the present simple again in the main clause:.

Look at these examples: 'I get indigestion, if I eat too quickly. This is distinct from the will condition when we are predicting a likely result in the future and thinking about specific instances. Look at these examples: ' If we hurry , we' ll get the 12 o' clock train. If he takes the antibiotics, he' ll get better. If he doesn't , he won't.