Unusual if statement

Question

I came across this "if conditional" and I have no idea if it's correct or wrong. I said:

If you came to have a good time, push your fingers up

I've not faced such an if statement before, as far as I know, all if conditionals that come with an imperative, join with present tenses. As an example:

If you should see him, give him the book

Sometimes conditionals get really complicated. I have no problem with other types of conditionals like mixed ones and so on though.

Could you clarify the issue?

Note that both of your example sentences employ imperatives, push and give; this is identical with the infinitive form, which in turn is identical with the 'plain' present form for every verb except BE. — StoneyB on hiatus, Apr 06 '16 at 11:58
@StoneyB Not quite ;-) There is one more verb which doesn't have a present tense form the same as the imperative ... — Araucaria - Not here any more., Apr 06 '16 at 12:22
@Araucaria Clever ... but then you've also got to count Begone! — StoneyB on hiatus, Apr 06 '16 at 12:47
btw I just got more confused, if it's a situation that is within the past like "if you came to" then the situation is gone and how could the result be imperative? -edit: unless it's a hypothetical situation @StoneyB — Devin Hudson, Apr 06 '16 at 12:58
@DevinHudson True, you cannot command a past action. But you can command a future action contingent on a past event: If you saw what happened, please tell the police. — StoneyB on hiatus, Apr 06 '16 at 13:12
So you mean, if anything, it's correct in spoken English. Because this is the first time I come across such a case, and it was in an music. @StoneyB thank you anyways — Devin Hudson, Apr 06 '16 at 13:22
@DevinHudson Yes, it's correct. The consequence clause may be cast in the imperative or the interrogative as well as the indicative. The 'first, second, third conditionals' ESL teachers employ to introduce students to conditional constructions are neither exhaustive nor descriptive: they only scratch the surface. — StoneyB on hiatus, Apr 06 '16 at 13:26
@StoneyB Cool, another one for the bow. Apart from the modals and BE, the interesting ones to wheel out that I usually use are beware and the used in I used to smoke. So now I've got begone too. Of course used has neither an infinitive or a present tense form, so I was robbed of the opportunity here :) — Araucaria - Not here any more., Apr 06 '16 at 19:40
@Araucaria Actually, use has been fully inflected in this sense within my lifetime. (It's been about 150 years since beware was inflected: bewares, bewared, bewaring.) And arguably it isn't used but a new modal, useta. — StoneyB on hiatus, Apr 06 '16 at 20:34
@StoneyB Have you got an example with a present or an infinitive? — Araucaria - Not here any more., Apr 06 '16 at 20:39
@Araucaria There's an old example of a present here; and the infinitive is still routinely used with do-support in questions and negations (He didn't use to..., Did he use to...?P. — StoneyB on hiatus, Apr 06 '16 at 22:21

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 06 '16 at 19:53

A more natural, everyday example might be useful. Here is a situation: You go to a concert. There are two doors to go into the building. Door A is for people who need to pay for their ticket. Door B is for people who paid online (on the internet), and already have their tickets. When you get to the concert there is a sign:

If you paid for your ticket online, go to door B.

This sign is saying that if it is true now that you paid for your ticket already (in the past), you should go to Door B (now).

We cannot use a present tense here, it won't work:

If you pay for your ticket online, please go to Door B. (wrong)

I don't know if this is helpful, but I hope so.

JavaLatte · Answer 2 · 2016-04-06T13:44:26.353

The first sentence is nothing unusual: it's just a condition based on your reason for being here - "why you came". There is no problem about making a current imperative conditional on a past event:

If you were born on a Friday, raise your hand

should in the second sentence is a relatively unusual, formal and, to my ear, old-fashioned usage. Here is a definition:

should used when referring to a possible event in the future:

If anyone should ask for me, I'll be in the manager's office.

Should you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to contact me.

In the first example, and in your second sentence, it can be omitted altogether without changing the meaning. It functions as a modal,so it is necessary to change ask->asks when it is removed. In the second example, it can be replaced by if.

Unusual if statement

2 Answers2