If it snows tonight, your flight will be cancelled tomorrow.
Real or Unreal?
In English, there are many ways of making sentences with the word "if." It is very important to understand the difference between sentences that express real possibilities and sentences that express unreal or imaginary situations.
Real Possibilities:
If it snows, flights will be canceled.
You should not fly if it's raining too heavily.
We'll have to divert to another airport if the forecast is correct.
Unreal or Imaginary Situations:
You would understand if you spoke ICAO aviation language.
I could help with de-icing if I had training.
I would be worried if I didn't get my weather briefing in the morning.
First Conditional
The First Conditional is used to describe real possibilities.
First Conditional: if + Present Simple, will + base verb
If weather permits, we'll stop in Seattle.
If you don't understand the weather forecast, you'll have problems tomorrow.
If she doesn't study weather patterns, she won't make much improvement.
If I spill my coffee in the cockpit, the pilot will get angry.
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