If you heat water to 100 degrees, it boils.
If you cross an international date line, This always happens, every time you cross a
the time changes. dateline.
This is basically always true -- the pressure
If you go 10 meters under water, the
of 10 meters of water equals one
pressure increases to two atmospheres.
atmosphere.
Phosphorus burns if you expose it to
air.
1. My daughter / eat / too much chocolate / she /get / sick
2. Ice / float / you / drop / it / in water
3. You / not / eat / you / die
4. If / no / rain / the grass / not / grow
Zero Conditional: certainty
We use the so-called zero conditional when the result of the condition is always true,
like a scientific fact.
Take some ice. Put it in a saucepan. Heat the saucepan. What happens? The ice melts (it
becomes water). You would be surprised if it did not.
IF condition result
present simple present simple
If you heat ice it melts.
Notice that we are thinking about a result that is always true for this condition. The
result of the condition is an absolute certainty. We are not thinking about the future or
the past, or even the present. We are thinking about a simple fact. We use the present
simple tense to talk about the condition. We also use the present simple tense to talk
about the result. The important thing about the zero conditional is that the condition
always has the same result.
The Zero Conditional is used for actions that are always true when the conditions are
satisfied.
EG: If you put sugar in coffee, it tastes sweet.
[Link]
The Zero Conditional Exercise at Auto-English
Use the conditions and results in the box to complete the phrases below.
Conditions Results
you get pink
you've got a headache
A dog bites
you don't wear a crash helmet
the dvd player comes on
you heat it to 100 ºc
Butter melts
she comes home very late
it scratches you
you leave gates open in the country
You have more chance of being
you add sugar
killed
1 Water boils if _______________________________________________ .
2 If you mix red and white _______________________________________________
.
3 _______________________________________________ if you leave it in the sun.
4 If _______________________________________________ , take an aspirin.
5 If _______________________________________________ , it tastes sweet.
6 _______________________________________________ if you go near its food
when it's eating.
7 If you pull a cat's tail, _______________________________________________ .
8 _______________________________________________ if you don't wear a seat
belt.
9 You can end up brain damaged if
_______________________________________________ .
10 If you press this switch,
_______________________________________________ .
11 If _______________________________________________ , her folks get very
angry.
12 Farmers get very angry if
_______________________________________________ .
1. My daughter / eat / too much chocolate / she /get / sick
2. Ice / float / you / drop / it / in water
3. You / not / eat / you / die
4. If / no / rain / the grass / not / grow
burn boil change go increase heat expose cross
If you _________ water to 100 degrees, it _________ .
If you _________ 10 metres under water, the pressure _________ to two atmospheres.
Phosphorus _________ if you _________ it to air.
If you _________ an international date line, the time _________ .