Conditional Sentence

Conditional Sentences are also known as Conditional Clauses or If Clauses. They are used to express that the action in the main clause (without if) can only take place if a certain condition (in the clause with if) is fulfilled. There are three types of Conditional Sentences.

Conditional Sentence Type 1

→ It is possible and also very likely that the condition will be fulfilled.
Form: if + Simple Present, will-Future

Example: If I find her address, I’ll send her an invitation.

more on Conditional Sentences Type I ►

Conditional Sentence Type 2

→ It is possible but very unlikely, that the condition will be fulfilled.
Form: if + Simple Past, Conditional I (= would + Infinitive)

Example: If I found her address, I would send her an invitation.

more on Conditional Sentences Type II ►

Conditional Sentence Type 3

→ It is impossible that the condition will be fulfilled because it refers to the past.
Form: if + Past Perfect, Conditional II (= would + have + Past Participle)

Example: If I had found her address, I would have sent her an invitation. 

Source: http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/if.htm

Idiom Examples

 

Idioms exist in every language. An idiom is a word or phrase that is not taken literally, like “bought the farm” has nothing to do with purchasing real estate, but refers to dying. Idiom also refers to a dialect or jargon of a group of people, either in a certain region or a group with common interests, like in science, music, art, or business.

Common Idioms

Some idioms are used by most people that speak English; others are used by a more select group.

Common idioms that refer to people include:

• A chip on your shoulder - means you think you know a lot
• High as a kite - means you are drunk or on drugs
• Sick as a dog - means you are very ill

Idioms that refer to your actions would be:

• Rub someone the wrong way - meaning to annoy or bother
• Jump the gun - would mean to be doing something early
• Pay the piper - means you need to face the consequences of your actions

Some idioms use color words to convey other meanings. For example, there are several that use the word “blue:”

• “The blues” can refer to both a style of music and feeling sad.
• If something occurs rarely, it is said to happen “once in a blue moon”, because a blue moon is two full moons in one month, which doesn’t happen often.
• “Out of the blue” means something happens that was unexpected.  

Learning a Language with Idioms

Because of idioms, learning a language can be complicated. After you can conjugate verbs, and know a lot of words, you may still have difficulty speaking the language with native users.

This is partly due to the use of idioms and would also depend of which region of a country you were in. Idiom usage is not just regional, but also varies according to people’s interests and social groups.

The best way to pick up on the meaning of certain idioms would be to converse with people and ask them for a clarification of the idiom if you are not clear about the idiom they used. There are also sites on the Internet which will help explain the meaning of idioms.

Idioms Around the Globe

There are certain things that happen in every culture and there are idioms to deal with them.

• In Norwegian and Czech, “walking around hot porridge” refers to beating around the bush, which is also an idiom meaning not getting to the point.
• If you are in Italy or Turkey and you say you are “as hungry as a wolf” then you are starving.

If it is raining in large amounts, most cultures have an interesting way of saying that:

• In English, it would be “raining cats and dogs”
• In Africa, they might say “it's raining old women with clubs”

• Many languages refer to heavy rain as coming in buckets or as rain coming out of a bucket.

• In Norway they say “it's raining female trolls”
• The Irish say “it's throwing cobblers knives”

Comparing idioms between countries can also be interesting:

• In Finnish, “with long teeth” means you are doing something that you really don’t want to do
• In French, “to have long teeth” means you are ambitious.

The key to understanding the local idioms is to listen carefully and to ask questions of local speakers.

 

Idioms In the Arts

There are many idioms in the field of music.

• If you “fine tune” something, you make small improvements to it.
• “Changing your tune” means changing your mind.
• If you are “whistling Dixie” or “whistling in the dark” you are overly positive about something.
• If you try and make a decision too early without knowing all the facts, people may tell you that “it’s not over ‘till the fat lady sings.”

Drama and dance have idioms, too, like:

• “Break a leg” means good luck.
• If you are a “ham” you overact.
• If you say, “it takes two to tango” you mean that more than one person is at fault or involved.
• If you “tap dance” your way out of a sticky situation, then that implies that you get out of it in a clever way.
• Being “in the spotlight” means you are the center of attention.

Remember, a group of people with shared interests such as the arts or business will have their own idioms. As with all idioms it will be easier to understand the idioms if you concentrate on what is being said and ask questions about the meanings of the idioms.

Source: http://idioms.yourdictionary.com

Relative adverbs

A.    There are relative adverbs where, when, and why.

The houses where I used to live has been knockdown

Do you remember the time when we all went to a night club?

The reason why we can sell so cheapy is because we buy in bulk.

We use where after nuons like place, area, town, country, house, situation. We use when after nouns like time, day, weekend, moment, period. And we use why after reason.

B.    We can use where and when without a noun.

This is where I used to live.

(the place where I used to live)

Remember when we went to a club.

(the time when we went to a club)

C.     Instead of a clause with where, we can use these patterns.

This is the house in which I used to live.

This is the house that I used to live in.

This is the house I used to live in.

The pattern with in which is rather formal. In formal English yhe house I used to live in is more usual. Instead of when or why, we can use this pattern.

      Do you remember the time (that) we all went to a night club?

      The reason (that) we can sell so cheapy is because we buy in bulk.

D.    Clauses with when or where can be separated off by commas.

We walked up to the top of the hill, where we got a marvelous view.

I’d rather go next week, when I won’t be so bussy.

            We do not leave out where or when here, and we do not use that.

E.     With the noun way, we can use these patterns.

I hate the way in which these adverts pop up on the screen.

I hate the way that these adverts pop up on the screen.

I hate the way in which these adverts pop up on the screen.

The way in which is more informal.

We can also use how.

I hate how these adverts pop up on the screen.

Source: Eastwood, Jhon. Learner’s Pocket Grammar. Oxford University Press.