Everyday Grammar TV: Action movies and conditional statements

Faith: Hi John, what’s on your mind today?
John: Scary alien creatures. I watched Predator last night - you know the famous 80s movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger
Faith: I’ve never seen it and I don’t plan to. How does the movie connect with grammar?
John: Well, there’s this famous line that Arnold says: “If it bleeds, we can kill it.” What a great line!
Faith: I don’t know if it’s a great line.... but it does contain a conditional statement.
John: Exactly. Grammar books describe different kinds of conditional statements. The differences are mainly in terms of time, the nature of the action, and the reality of the situation being described.
Faith: So in Arnold’s line, the first part of the statement has an if-clause. The clause has the subject, “it,” meaning the alien creature, and a verb in the simple present form, “bleeds.”
When Schwarzenegger said, “If it bleeds,” he is describing a general truth. If something has blood, it is probably a living thing. And living things can be killed.
John: Right. And note that the result clause has the helping verb “can.”
"...we can kill it."
This is important because “can” expresses possibility. It does not suggest that something is sure to happen.
Faith: Let’s think about how the statement could have been different. What would the difference in meaning be if we removed “can”?
John: The statement would be “If it bleeds, we kill it.”
This suggests a general rule or policy. It suggests a usual way of doing things. But when alien creatures invade, well, you’re involved in an unusual situation.
Faith: And that’s Everyday Grammar
Originally published at - learningenglis...

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Faith: Hi, John, what's on your mind today?
John: Scary alien creatures. I watched Predator last night - you know the famous 80s movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Faith: I've never seen it and I don't plan to. How does the movie connect with grammar?
John: Well, there's this famous line that Arnold says: "If it bleeds, we can kill it." What a great line!
Faith: I don't know if it's a great line, but it does contain a conditional statement.
John: Exactly. Gramma books describe different kinds of conditional statements. The differences are mainly in terms of time, the nature of the action, and the reality of the situation being described.
Faith: So, in Arnold's line, the first part of the statement has an if clause. The clause has the subject, "it", meaning the alien creature, and a verb in the simple present form "bleeds". When Schwarzenegger said "if it bleeds", he is describing a general truth. If something has blood, it is probably a living thing. And living things can be killed.
John: Right. And note that the result clause has the helping verb "can". "... we can kill it." This is important because "can" expresses possibility. It does not suggest that something is sure to happen.
Faith: Let's think about how the statement could have been different. What would the difference in meaning be if we removed "can"?
John: The statement would be "if it bleeds, we kill it." This suggests a general rule or policy. It suggests a usual way of doing things. But when alien creatures invade, well, you're involved in an unusual situation.
Faith: And that's Everyday Grammar.

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