Provided That

How to use the expression "provided that" correctly

This is an entry on my list of Common Errors in English Usage. Visit the main page for direct links to additional entries.

The expression provided that is a subordinating conjunction (a conjunction that begins a dependent clause) meaning “if; only if; on the condition that”:

Each student will receive a stipend every month, provided that he or she attends class regularly and maintains good grades.

Provided that you work hard, you should succeed.

For more information on conjunctions and clauses, see the Sentence Analysis and Constructing and Connecting Complete Sentences pages.

Related Resources

Common Errors in English Usage: Errors in diction and idiom commonly made by native speakers of English

List of Common Errors in English Usage (PDF): Printable version of the complete list

Common Grammar Errors: A list of common errors in grammar (topics like subject-verb agreement and parallelism) as distinct from usage

List of Common Errors in English Usage: PDF version

© 2006, 2008, and 2019 C. Brantley Collins, Jr.