I would beg to differ about its being a zero conditional. The result clause is in the imperative form ("don't blame me"). The zero conditional is not actually a proper condition as it is used to denote an action that always happens ie. a fact -- "If you heat water to 100 degrees, it boils." The "if" could be relaced by "when". (Actually there is a Rashi commentary that deals with this.) The only explanation that I can offer is that there is no future tense in English. We have different ways of expressing the future -- using the present simple is one of them. Language is a weird and wonderful thing and we have many varied ways of expressing the same thought. why a speaker should choose one over another is sometimes difficult to fathom even for experienced english teachers such as our good selves. Have a good day David Graniewitz Jerusalem From: Bari Nirenberg <bnirenberg@xxxxxxxxx> Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 23:13:41 +0200 Subject: [etni] grammar question One of the "disadvantages" of teaching gifted students is that they're really good at coming up with questions that you don't know how to answer. My 9th graders read The Monkey's Paw and this sentence appeared in the story: "If you keep it, don't blame me for what happens." So one of my students asked me why the verb "happen" is in the present tense here, when clearly it is what will happen in the future. I know the sentence is correct because my native-speaker ear tells me it is (and because it was in the story...), but I have no idea why. Can anyone explain this to me so that I can give him an answer? Bari My answer is- it has to do with conditionals. It is a zero conditional, so the first and the second part are in the pr sim tense. Regards, Hagit Lahav School of Arts, Tel Aviv Hagit_27@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------- ** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org ** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx ** ** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** -----------------------------------------------