Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Blossom]

1. If you do not behave I am going to have to punish you.
2. If you do not behave I am going to punish you.

Are they the same? Why the extra words in sentence 1?

[toe]

means the same thing. although in sentence 1
the speaker is more passive, by this i mean it's
like him saying, "i don't want to punish you,
but you are forcing me to."

and sentence 2 is more forceful, as in the speaker
having no qualms about punishing the person, "you
will be punished if you keep doing that."

but in general, the meaning is the same, and we
all use these sentences interchangably.

^^
toe

[Blossom]

Thanks.