First Conditional VS Indicative

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JackRipener
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First Conditional VS Indicative

Post by JackRipener »

So I've run into a huge snag which is really confusing me, and it has to do with Conditionals/Subjunctive Mood vs Indicative mood.

I have a good understanding of what conditionals are and how to make them, and it's my understanding that they fall under the subjunctive mood (Not sure about that exactly).

What confuses me to no end is that apparently certain phrases that I was absolutely SURE were conditionals, are actually in the indicative mood.

"If it rains tomorrow, I will walk to school"

Firstly, it starts with "If" which for me is a dead giveaway that this is subjunctive/conditional, AND it's hypothetical, but according to the textbook this is from, this is actually indicative. The only evidence I could find online about this is that if something is "Very likely" it falls under indicative, not subjunctive, so is it then the case that the only difference between certain instances of indicative vs conditional is how likely something is?

Compare this with

"If it rains tomorrow, we'll go to the cinema" is an example I got from an English teacher as an instance of the first conditional.

So my question is; Is the first example indicative of subjunctive? Why or why not? Same question for the second example. I also want to know if a sentence starting with "If" can be indicative and under what circumstances.
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Alan
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Re: First Conditional VS Indicative

Post by Alan »

1st conditionals in contemporary English (written or spoken) overwhelmingly use the indicative, and no longer the subjunctive, mood.

Subjunctive examples would start "If she be here...", and invariably sound either legalistic or archaic.

I trust that answers your question.
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