The syntax and interpretation of futurate conditionals in English

Defining the constraints on the use of the modals will and would in futurate if-clauses in English poses problems to both descriptive and theoretical linguists. One 'rule' often referred to is that while future will and counterfactual would do not normally occur in conditional sub-clauses with if, volitional and dispositional will and would can be used in that context. This paper attempts to account for this general rule and for the so-called exceptions to it in terms of two different syntactic positions of if-clauses in the sentence. It is suggested that the contrast can be formalized within current versions of X-theory. I. CONDITIONAL SUB-CLAUSES IN ENGLISH: THE DATA The purpose of this paper is twofold: (a) to examine the syntactic structure of English sentences containing conditional clauses with if, e.g. (I)-(3): (I) If it rains (*will rain) tomorrow, the match will be cancelled. (2) If it rained (*would rain) tomorrow, the match would be cancelled. (3) If it had rained (*would have rained) yesterday, the match would have been cancelled. (b) to describe the use of the modals will and would in such futurate and counterfactual conditional clauses. Since the second of these two points -i.e. tense and modal usage in conditional clauses has received some attention in the recent literature, we will briefly sum up the relevant proposals, and then concentrate on the syntax [i] This paper was first read at the Spring Meeting of the LAGB, Reading, 25 March I982. We wish to thank Dwight Bolinger, Sidney Greenbaum, David Reibel, Frits Stuurman and various others for valuable suggestions and comments on an earlier version of this text.