A question about 'if clauses' Hello! I found an exercise on the Internet about Conditionals in which the answers are given instantly after you finish it. I thought I had chosen the right answer, but

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Elaine Cristina

A question about 'if clauses' Hello! I found an exercise on the Internet about Conditionals in which the answers are given instantly after you finish it. I thought I had chosen the right answer, but I was wrong according to the key. Here's the sentence: If it ...................... a difference, then I'll take part. But I still have my doubts. The options are: made will make would make makes Since the exercises are related to all the Conditionals including the MIXED ones, I thought the answer could be 'made' because of the second sentence: 'but I still have doubts.' The answer is ' will make' . I really don't get that. 2 clauses with 'will', is it correct? I would appreciate if someone could help me.

Corrections · 2

A question about 'if clauses'

Hello!
I found an exercise on the Internet about conditionals where the correct answers are given instantly after you write yours.
I thought I had chosen the right answer, but I was wrong according to the key.
Here's the sentence:
If it ...................... a difference, then I'll take part. But I still have my doubts.
The options are:
1made
2will make
3would make
4makes
Since the exercises are related to all the Conditionals including the MIXED ones, I thought the answer could be 1'made' because of the second sentence: 'but I still have doubts.' The answer is ' will make' . I really don't get that. 2 clauses with 'will', is it correct?
I would appreciate if someone could help me.

The 'it' makes/made/will make a difference, or, in other words, ... it matters/mattered/will matter. Which?

It will matter and I will take part.A

It mattered and I will take part.B

It matters and I will take part.C

or, logically

I will take part and it will matter.A

I will take part and it mattered.B

I will take part and it matters.C

B is wrong since the action is simultaneously both in the past and in the future.

A and C are both possible. In the sense of C, we mean that it always matters. It is a weak sense. In the sense of A, we mean that I must go to make it matter; a strong sense. Thus, personally, I would choose A.

2, 3 or, 'would make/will a difference' I am not sure of the difference between them. Personally, I avoid the (would) conditional sense in English as I think it's a relic and only fit for exams.

'but I still have doubts' is irrelevant to the discussion. (maybe even a red herring). Hope I have been of some help.

I think all of the answers are right, in some context (sorry if this makes the question worse!) Like 'if the charity event last week made a difference, then I'll take part in this week's event'. If you were in a conversation and everyone knew what you were referring to, it might turn up. Maybe my grammar's just bad, but I think all of the other ones might be said by someone at some point to get the same point across...'will' and 'would' are somewhat equivalent here because neither is certain of what will happen, so 'will' seems more uncertain than usual (like more uncertain than saying 'I will be there on Friday' because you're using it with 'if' in this instance) 'Makes' sounds funny because it sounds like you have to know how much of a difference it will make before participating. Like it sounds like it is too certain of the outcome for the way it's used. But I think I might still use it if I were talking fast, or just wasn't thinking too hard. Lol so I guess what I'm trying to say is the grammar book might be technically correct but all of those are cool to use with if-then.

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