If Dad comes home early tomorrow night, he can help you with that.

MichaelLu2000

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2019
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
Taiwan
Current Location
Taiwan
I made up these sentences so there's no source.

A: I have trouble doing my math homework.

B1: If Dad comes home early tomorrow night, he can help you with that.

B2: If Dad comes home early tomorrow, he’ll be able to help you with that.

I think the main difference is that B1 sounds like B is suggesting Dad as an available option for A to consider asking for help from while B2 sounds more straightforward: Dad will have the ability to help A given that he comes home early tomorrow.

I am not sure if I've distinguish between them correctly, but I know there's a difference. Please share with me your opinions.
 
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I'd say B is more natural. B1 is general while B2 is specific.
 
while B2 sounds more straightforward: Dad will have the ability to help
I agree.
am not sure if I've distinguished between them correctly,
Because "can" expresses ability or possibility, using the standard ("will"+Vbase) "will be able to" is preferred here.

Note that "can" does work in some conditional-1 contexts. For example:

If you promise to be polite, you can come to the party.
 
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