www.ccsenet.org/elt English Language Teaching Vol. 5, No. 5; May 2012
ISSN 1916-4742 E-ISSN 1916-4750
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following table (see Table 1) includes sample sentences of real or unreal conditions.
As varied as the types of conditional sentences are, the English conditionals are further complicated by the use of
backshifting of tense. Comrie (1986) defines the backshifting of tense as “the use of a morphologically past tense
with present (or future) time reference and of pluperfect with past time reference.” For example, the present tense is
used to refer to the future in the if-clause of future real conditional sentences (e.g. If I have time, I will study
English.); the past tense is used in the hypothetical conditional to represent improbability in the present or future (e.g.
If I had time, I would study English.); and the past perfect tense is used in the counterfactual conditional to refer to
impossible events that didn’t happen in the past (e.g. If I had had time, I would have studied English.) .
1.2 Teaching English If-conditional Sentences to Chinese Students
Conditional sentences ranked fifth on a list of most serious teaching problems encountered by ESL teachers,
according to a survey conducted in Los Angeles area (Covitt, 1976). Teaching if-conditional sentences to Chinese
students is particularly hard because of the negative transfer of Chinese on students’ acquisition of English
conditionals.
The Chinese language has only one verb-tense pattern, so Chinese speakers do not change tenses and modality in the
verb phrase to indicate whether the conditional sentence is factual, hypothetical or counterfactual (Zhang, 2005:18).
Instead, Chinese makes use of the context, time reference and internal semantic logic to differentiate the conditional
types (Wu, 1994). As a result, the English real conditional sentences with normal time reference and thus similar to
corresponding Chinese conditionals are comparatively easy for Chinese learners to acquire. However, the English
unreal conditional sentences, involving a backshifting of tense, are challenging for Chinese learners.
Chinese teachers have been trying various methods of teaching English conditionals to Chinese students. Shang
Mingkui (1989: 34-37) and Ding Wangdao (1979: 58-60) proposed teaching methods that are based on a
comprehensive listing of possible combinations of an if-clause and a result-clause. Ouyang Zhiding (2009: 61-65)
put forward a tabular method to summarize and contrast the subjunctive forms in tables. Zhao Xiuzhen (1996: 48-50)
proposed teaching three most common types of English conditionals, namely, the predictive, hypothetical and
counterfactual conditionals. She left out the present factual conditionals. Zhang Bin’s empirical study involving 70
Chinese college students from Hunan University of Science and Technology also discovered that even though the
present factual was expected to be the easiest type to acquire, “quite a lot of participants mistook present factual
conditionals as predictive conditionals, and the evidence was that they added modal will in the main clause of the
present factual conditionals” (2005: 66-67). The studies conducted by Zhao Xiuzhen (1996: 48-50) and Zhang Bin
(2005: 66-67) prove that the present factual conditional sentences have been traditionally overlooked in many
ESL/EFL textbooks and in English teaching practice despite of the high frequency of the present factual conditionals
in everyday English.
Based on the analysis above, I propose teaching four basic types of English conditionals to students. These four
types are: the factual conditional sentences, the predictive conditional sentences, the hypothetical conditional
sentences, and the counterfactual conditional sentences (Zhang, 2005: 9-14; Liu, 2011: 16-24). I also propose
teaching English conditionals separately from the subjunctive mood. In addition, I propose making the backshifting
of tense readily understandable by listing four types of conditionals according to their probability of realizing the
event in the result-clause. I name this approach to English conditionals the Probability Approach.
1.3 The Probability Approach to English If-conditional Sentences
Users of the Probability Approach to four basic types of English if-conditional sentences look at how likely (i.e. the
probability) the event in the result-clause will take place when the condition in the if-clause is met. By this method,
the English if-conditional sentences can be loosely classified into four groups: the factual conditionals, the
predictive conditionals, the hypothetical conditionals and the counterfactual conditionals.
In the factual conditionals (i.e. the zero conditionals), the event in the result-clause is bound to happen as long as the
condition in the if-clause is met (probability = 100%).
In the predictive conditionals (i.e. the first conditionals), the event in the result-clause is highly likely to happen in
the future, as long as the condition in the if-clause is met (probability ≈ 50%).
In the hypothetical conditionals (i.e. the second conditionals), the event in the result-clause is unlikely yet possible
to happen when the condition in the if-clause is met (probability ≈ 10%). The hypothetical conditionals are usually
used to express wishes and desires that are unlikely to be realized.
In the counterfactual conditionals (i.e. the third conditionals), the event in the result-clause is assumed to take place
or become true when the situation in the if-clause, which is known to be impossible in the past, is met (probability =