IEGs_115 -- unless

 

Unless | as long as | provided | providing

1.       The club is for members only. You can’t go in unless you are a member.

2.       Our word of contention here is unless. What does the word, unless mean?

3.       The word unless means except if.

4.       You can’t go in except if you are a member. This means the same thing as: You can’t go in unless you a member. You can use only if in the same situation, but only with the affirmative. So rephrasing it we can say:

5.       You can go in only if you are a member = you can’t go in except if you are a member = you can’t go in unless you a member.

6.       Unless = except if and not unless = only if

7.       Given below are some more examples of unless.

8.       I’ll see you tomorrow unless I have to work late. This means: I’ll see you tomorrow except if I have to work late.

9.       There are no buses to the beach. Unless you have a car, it is difficult to get there. We can rephrase it this way:

10.   There are no buses to the beach. Except if you have a car, it is difficult to get there.

11.   ‘Shall I tell Liz what happened?’ ‘Not unless she asks.’ Rephrased differently, we can say:

12.   ‘Shall I tell Liz what happened?’ ‘Only if she asks.’

13.   Sally hates complaining. She wouldn’t complain about something unless it was really bad. This means, she wouldn’t complain about something except if it was really bad.

14.   We can take a taxi to the restaurant unless you’d prefer to walk. This can be rephrased as: We can take a taxi to the restaurant except if you’d prefer to walk.

15.   Instead of unless often it is possible to say if ... not:

16.   Unless we leave now, we’ll be late. This can be rephrased as: If we don’t leave now, we’ll be late.

17.   Now we’ll move on to see how ‘as long as’ and ‘so long as’ are used in sentences.

18.   You can borrow my car as long as you promise not to drive too fast.

19.   You can borrow my car, but you must promise not to drive too fast – this a condition.

20.   Now we shall see examples of the conditionals, ‘provided that’ and ‘providing that’.

21.   Travelling by car is convenient provided that you have somewhere to park, or you can say:

22.   Travelling by car is convenient providing that you have somewhere to park, or you can say:

23.   Travelling by car is convenient provided you have somewhere to park, or you can say:

24.   Travelling by car is convenient providing you have somewhere to park.

25.   Providing (that) the room is clean, I don’t mind which hotel we stay at, or you can say:

26.   Provided (that) the room is clean, I don’t mind which hotel we stay at.

27.   The room must clean – this is the condition.

28.   When we are talking about the future, we normally use future tense, but there are instances when we use the present tense. This is the first conditional when we use the present tense in the condition.

29.   When you are talking about the future, do not use the future modal ‘will’ with ‘so long as’, ‘as long as’, ‘unless’, ‘except if’, and ‘only if’.

30.   I’m not going out unless it stops raining. Note that we are using, unless it stops, we are not saying, unless it will stop. We strike through the incorrect expressions that should not be used.

31.   Providing the weather is good, we’re going to have a picnic. We cannot use the future tense here. We cannot say, ‘Providing the weather will be good, ...’

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