Connectors · CEFR B2 · Confident

unless / as long as / provided in English

Unless means if not, and already carries the negative. As long as and provided that set a condition that must hold.

The shape

unless / as long as / provided that + clause

Set a condition without saying "if not".

In Hindi

unless का मतलब है "अगर नहीं" — नकार उसी में शामिल है। as long as शर्त रखता है।

CoCap explains every structure in both languages, because a rule you understand in Hindi is a rule you can use in English.

The mistake to fix first

The sentence Indian-English speakers actually produce, and the reason it is wrong.

Commonly said	Correct English
Unless you don't hurry, we will be late.	Unless you hurry, we will be late. "Unless" already means "if not", so a second negative reverses it.

Commonly said

Correct English

Unless you don't hurry, we will be late.

Unless you hurry, we will be late.

"Unless" already means "if not", so a second negative reverses it.

Learn these first

These come first. The rest of this makes more sense once they are automatic.

First conditionalA2Talk about what will happen if something does

Easy to confuse with

Close enough to be mixed up with this one. Knowing the difference is most of knowing either.

Questions people ask

What is the unless / as long as / provided used for?: Unless means if not, and already carries the negative. As long as and provided that set a condition that must hold. In practice: set a condition without saying "if not".
How do you form the unless / as long as / provided?: unless / as long as / provided that + clause.
What is the most common mistake with the unless / as long as / provided?: Saying “Unless you don't hurry, we will be late.” instead of “Unless you hurry, we will be late.”. "Unless" already means "if not", so a second negative reverses it.

Where unless / as long as / provided fits

Where this structure sits in the ladder, and what surrounds it.

unless / as long as / provided is a CEFR B2 structure — the confident band — and it belongs to connectors. CoCap’s syllabus files every structure this way so you can learn in order instead of jumping between whatever a search happened to return.

Reading it is not the same as saying it.

CoCap turns this page into practice: Hindi sentence in, English sentence out, corrected one thing at a time. Free, no card.

Practise the unless / as long as / provided →

CoCap · Free English practice for India · About · Contact

CoCap