Linking clauses by subordination
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Expressing condition | page 4 of 5 |
Using unless
Unless is commonly thought of as the negative equivalent of if:
Unless we have an education system in which every child can develop fully to his or her potential, we will be wasting talent and ability. (Bank of English)
In this example, unless may indeed be replaced by if ... not:
If we don't have an education system in which every child can develop fully to his or her potential, we will be wasting talent and ability.
However, unless does not mean exactly the same as if ... not. More accurately, unless deals with exceptions and can be translated as except if:
Except if we have an education system in which every child can develop fully to his or her potential, we will be wasting talent and ability.
This is an important distinction because if we want to talk about a situation which contradicts the actual facts, we must use if ... not. So, in the following example, if ... not is used because the game was won by the speaker's team:
There was a definite foul and it would have been an injustice if we had not won the game. (Bank of English)
Introduction
Using unless
