C1 grammar point

if needed | if desired | if required

It is not so clear in the English grammar profile, why they say “if + ed endings” for this C1 grammar.  Their examples include words that get tagged as past participles and adjectives, yet to help maintain focus, this entry does look at just the word ending “ed”.  What we found here is that the best examples lead back to cooking!  “Add more salt if needed.”

The three most common ellipted sentence endings are also more common in the first clause:

1    IF NEEDED,

Quite a big leap from what text inspector defaults this as. Notice that ‘if needed‘ is twice more common at the end of a sentence than in the middle of a sentence followed by a comma.

IF DESIRED,

this is already C1 through vocabulary alone. It is also much more likely at the end of sentences. (11370)

3 IF REQUIRED, 

B1 – (8443)

4 IF APPROVED, 

B1 This is the main one of these most common ones that is different in that it appears at the start of sentences. (6938)

The rest with commas:  5   IF SELECTED, (3083)  6   IF CONVICTED, (2982) 7   IF PASSED,  (2801) 8   IF INTERESTED, (2572) 9   IF ELECTED, (2516) 10   IF ENABLED,  (2461)  11    IF ACCEPTED, (2002) 12   IF REQUESTED, (1969)  13   IF CHECKED,  (1541)  14    IF CONFIRMED,  (1400)  15    IF ASKED, (1378)  16    IF USED,  (1359)  17    IF SPECIFIED,  (1251)


End position:

1   IF NEEDED. 52553

2   IF DESIRED. 22530

3   IF REQUIRED. 17910

4   IF REQUESTED. 2475

5   IF INTERESTED. 2177

6   IF CONVICTED.  1726

7  IF ASKED. 1218

8  IF ELECTED. 1094

9   IF PREFERRED. 1084


Here are example sentences using the grammar patterns mentioned in the provided corpus results:

  1. “Add more salt to the dish if needed.”
  2. “Feel free to adjust the seasoning if desired.”
  3. “Please submit the form by the deadline if required.”
  4. “If approved, the project can proceed.”
  5. “You will receive an email notification if selected.”
  6. “The judge will impose a sentence if convicted.”
  7. “Please let us know if you are interested in attending the event.”
  8. “If elected, I will prioritize education reform.”
  9. “You can choose a different option if preferred.”

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