“If” and the Subjunctive Mood
It is sometimes said that the English are polite people. This can make life difficult for foreigners. Suppose a foreign boy asks an English girl to go out with him and she says, “If I finish my work, I’ll meet you in the cafe at 7 o’clock.” Is she saying “yes” or “no” to his invitation?
In grammatical terms, she is using the conditional structure. By using the conditional, speakers of English can avoid giving a “yes” or “no” answer to a question. It enables people to be diplomatic. If the girl doesn’t want to go out with the boy, she won’t turn up at the cafe. She will let him understand she is still working. If she wants to go out with him, but doesn’t want to appear too easy to catch, she has achieved that with her reply. But in this case, as she uses the first conditional which shows probability, she is quite likely to turn up at the cafe. Being polite can make life very difficult?
The conditional is often used by people in the news---politicians, for example---who wish to avoid speaking out their ideas. This is very important if they are on their way to discuss an agreement. No one wants to give away his or her points before he or she starts. A government spokesman might say to a group of workers, “if we could pay you more, we would.” The use of the conditional here makes room for argument although the speaker is using the second conditional form, which shows improbability. So it is unlikely the workers will get their rise.
“If” is a small word, which appears often in the English language. It can show politeness and conditionals such as the First-probability “if I can come to your party, I will.”, the Second-improbability “if I saw you tomorrow, I would give you the book”, and the Third-impossibility (meaning it is too late to change something that has happened) “if you had told me, I would have helped you.”
“如果”和虚拟语气
有时说英国人是有礼貌的人。这会使外国人的生活变得困难。假设一个外国男孩约一个英国女孩和他一起出去，她说：“如果我完成了我的工作，我会在7点在咖啡馆见你。”她是对他的邀请说“是”还是“不是”？
在语法上，她使用的是条件结构。通过使用条件句，说英语的人可以避免对问题给出“是”或“否”的答案。它使人们能够外交。如果女孩不想和男孩出去，她就不会出现在咖啡馆里。她会让他明白她还在工作。如果她想和他一起出去，但又不想显得太容易被抓住，她的回答就做到了。但在这种情况下，由于她使用了显示概率的第一个条件，她很可能会出现在咖啡馆。有礼貌会让生活变得很困难吗？
条件句经常被新闻中的人使用——例如政治家——他们希望避免说出他们的想法。如果他们正在讨论协议，这一点非常重要。没有人愿意在他或她开始之前放弃他或她的积分。政府发言人可能会对一群工人说，“如果我们能给你们多付钱，我们会的。”尽管说话者使用的是第二种条件形式，但此处使用的条件句为论证提供了空间，这表明了不可能性。因此，工人们不太可能升职。
“如果”是一个小词，经常出现在英语中。它可以显示礼貌和条件，例如第一概率“如果我可以参加你的聚会，我会。”，第二不可能“如果我明天见到你，我会把书给你”，第三不可能（意思是改变已经发生的事情为时已晚）“如果你告诉我，我会帮助你的。”