This week’s grammatical word is “providing”, and it has the same meaning as “as long as”. I wrote a blog entry about “as long as” last year on July 15th, 2010. In that blog entry I said it has two meanings, but “providing” only means the same thing as the first definition for “as long as”. Both expressions have a similar meaning to “if”, but they are used to indicate a condition that is necessary for someone to do something. For example:
Providing you do well in the interview, I’m sure you’ll get the job.
Providing your friend doesn’t stay too long, she can sleep in our extra room.
I will lend you the money providing you pay me back within two months.
My wife will come to the party with me providing she doesn’t have to work overtime.
A: We will order more of this product from your company providing we can sell these ones quickly.
B: Ok, it’s a deal.
The word “providing” sounds a little more formal than “as long as”, so we can use it in business situations. Also, as you can see from my examples, the word “providing” can be placed in the middle or at the beginning of the sentence.
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