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The verb "will" has many overtones and meanings but I want to bring up these two:

  1. If you will help me open the door, I will take the desk out.

"If you will help" means "If you consent to", "If you are disposed to", "If you are willing to".

  1. I will drink this beverage now, if it will make me stronger tomorrow in the competition.

The combination of two "wills" is OK in this case and I know why. But I wonder about this sentence.

  1. If you will help me learn this poem by heart (tomorrow), I will help you with your homework now.

My questions:

a) Can 3 sound ambiguous? It has the same relation of tenses as sentence 2 does, however, if we removed "tomorrow", could it mean "If you will" as "If you are willing to"?

b) Can 3 be said like this: 4 If you help me learn this poem by heart (tomorrow), I will help you with your homework now. Which one is better 3 or 4?

user1425
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  • All your versions are okay. Still, I don't see will help as anything other than future tense. – Yosef Baskin Mar 11 '21 at 15:40
  • I think you mean sentence 3. Don't you see it as "If you are willing to help me learn"? – user1425 Mar 11 '21 at 15:42
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    It isn't future tense; there isn't any future tense in English. Will is a modal auxiliary verb, and like all modals it has two kinds of meaning -- an Epistemic sense (meaning, roughly, 'is expected to', and often mistaken for a future tense; and a Deontic sense (meaning, in this case, 'is willing to'). – John Lawler Mar 11 '21 at 15:48
  • ...'If you will do ...' in such an appeal always implies that consent (ie a willingness) is being sought. 'It will rain tomorrow' is obviously non-volitional. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 11 '21 at 15:50
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    If there is no future in English, I will not eat my hat. – Lambie Mar 11 '21 at 15:52
  • John Lawler, I know that. I meant physical future. – user1425 Mar 11 '21 at 15:57
  • I've understood will in the second half of the first sentence (and usually) as a promise of future action conditioned on someone else's current action. If he/she actually does X, then I will actually do Y. Nothing gets done if the person is simply willing to do X, but doesn't do it. – FeliniusRex - gone Mar 11 '21 at 17:04
  • has a problem. It is not "if you will", it is "if you'll" the "will" is de-emphasised. In 3, it is also de-emphasised. If you emphasise the "will" in 3., you create the meaning of "if you insist on helping..." In short, the answer to your question is "No." The long answer is, "Tell us how you said it."
    • – Greybeard Dec 02 '23 at 19:19