What happens to a conditional acceptance in regards to the original offer?

A conditional acceptance effectively alters the terms of the original offer and acts as a rejection of that offer, while simultaneously proposing new terms to the original offeror. When a party conditionally accepts an offer, they are not agreeing to the original terms as presented; instead, they are suggesting modifications which must be accepted by the original offeror for a binding agreement to occur.

In this context, once the conditional acceptance is communicated, the original offer ceases to be enforceable as proposed, and the original offeror is faced with this new proposal. This transformation into a counter-offer means that the original offerer may choose to accept the new terms, reject them, or propose further modifications.

The other options suggest that a conditional acceptance could merely be treated as an acceptance of the original offer, that it remains valid regardless of the conditional acceptance, or that it requires acknowledgment from the offeror to take effect—all of which misunderstand the fundamental nature of how a conditional acceptance interacts with the original offer.