When conditional clauses deal with the present or the past, they are NEUTRAL (NON-COMMITTAL) or CONTRARY TO FACT. The neutral clause implies nothing whatever with regard to the truth or untruth of the condition or of the statement in the main (or conclusional) clause. The verb in the neutral clause is indicative, present, past, perfect, or pluperfect, and that in the conclusional clause is indicative or imperative, present, past, future, perfect, or pluperfect to suit the meaning.

he is enjoying the game.
he was invited yesterday.
he has seen us by this time.
tell him to come this way.
we shall certainly find him.
why do we not see him?

how he must be enjoying the game!
enjoying the music.

he heard the music.

why did he not see us?

ask him what he thought of the opera.
he has heard Parsifal.

5. If he has been there,

ask him how large the orchestra is.
he ought to know.

6. If he had been there before we arrived, he must have seen us.

In the sentence containing the contrary-to-fact clause, the verbs are subjunctive. The past form of the verb stands for present time, and the pluperfect for past time. The conclusional clause makes its past or pluperfect subjunctive with should or would.

7. If he were here, we should see him.

8. If he were here, we should have seen him before now.

9. If he had been there, we should have met him.

10. If he had been here, we should find a message from him. II. Were he here, he would look us up.

12. Had he been here, he would have left some word for us.

When conditional clauses deal with the future, they always imply uncertainty, for no person can tell what the future may bring forth. Nevertheless, if the clause is neutral as to the probability or improbability of the future condition, the verbs of the sentence are indicative.

13. If it is pleasant to-morrow,

we will go.

The doubt is sometimes made more prominent by the use of the subjunctive in the conditional clause.

14. If it be pleasant to-morrow, we will go.

Should in both clauses implies still more uncertainty.

15. If it should be pleasant to-morrow, we should go. Or the subjunctive may be made without should.

16. If it were pleasant

If it were to be pleasant

to-morrow, we might go.

Future conditional clauses are divided into MORE VIVID and LESS VIVID clauses. In the former there is an expectation that the event mentioned will be realized; the indicative mood is therefore employed, and the verb of the conclusional clause may present or may contain a future auxiliary.

17. If he goes to-morrow, he goes as my friend.

18. If he goes, he will enjoy the game.

In less vivid conditional clauses, less certainty of realization is implied, and the auxiliaries are should or would, subjunctive.

19. If he should go, he would enjoy the game.

EXERCISE

Study the meaning of the following conditional clauses, and observe their connectives:

1. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.

-SHAKESPEARE, Julius Cæsar iii. 2. 173. 2. If you should go near Barnard Castle, there is good ale at the King's Head.-DICKENS, Nicholas Nickleby i. 7.

3.

Had killed me, he had done a kinder deed.

In truth, if he

-SHELLEY, The Cenci ii. 1. 2-3.

4. If I slew thy brother dear,

Thou slewst a sister's son to me.-SCOTT.

5. Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs

Receive our air, that moment they are free.-COWPER.

6. Why, let 'em come, so they come not to war.

-MARLOWE, Jew i. 189.

7. Mercy was offered to some prisoners on condition that they would bear evidence against Prideaux.-MACAULAY, History of England ii. 220. 8. The mere delight in combining ideas suffices them; provided the deductions are logical they seem almost indifferent to their truth. -LEWES, Goethe i. 65.

9. In case we are surprised, keep by me.-IRVING, Tales of a Traveller.

10. Say you can swim; alas; 'tis but a while.

II.

—SHAKESPEARE, 3 Henry VI v. 4. 29.

Suppose he should relent

And publish grace to all, on promise made

Of new subjection; with what eyes could we

Stand in his presence?-MILTON, Paradise Lost ii. 237-40.

12. Were Richelieu dead, his power were mine.

-BULWER, Richelieu ii. 1.

13. Should an individual want a coat, he must employ the village tailor.-SCOTT, Minstrelsy i. 58.

14. This sword hath ended him; so shall it thee

Unless thou yield thee as my prisoner.

—SHAKESPEARE, I Henry IV v. 3. 9–10.

15. But that the earl his flight had ta'en,

16.

The vassals there their lord had slain.-SCOTT, L. Min. iv. 10.
Who preferreth peace

More than I do, except I be provoked?

—SHAKESPEARE, I Henry VI iii. 1. 34.

17. Thae corbies dinna gather without they smell carrion.-SCOTT, Rob Roy xviii.

18. You will greatly grieve and offend me if you refer to this again before I mention it to you.-WARREN, Diary ii. 5.

19. The United States as a neutral nation was aggrieved by the action of the British Government in stopping American vessels from trading with the Continent, unless they first put into British ports. -GARDINER, Student's History of England, p. 872.

20. Unless the poet know how it is behind the scenes, he can never understand how actors speak and move.-LEWES, Goethe i. 61. 21. Unless I greatly deceive myself, the general effect of this checkered narrative will be to excite thankfulness in all religious minds.-MACAULAY, History i. 2.

22. A penal statute is virtually annulled if the penalties which it imposes are regularly remitted.-MACAULAY, History i. 30.

23. I should very imperfectly execute the task which I have undertaken if I were merely to treat of battles and sieges.-MACAULAY, History i. 3.

24. If I shrink not from these, the fire-armed angels, Why should I quail from him who now approaches? -BYRON, Cain i. 1.

25. I am content, so thou wilt have it so.

-SHAKESPEARE, Romeo and Juliet iii. 5. 18. 26. So Mahomet and the mountain meet, no matter which moves to the other.-CHATHAM, Letters.

27.

Upon condition thou wilt swear

To pay him tribute and submit thyself,
Thou shalt be plac'd as viceroy under him.

-SHAKESPEARE, I Henry VI v. 4. 129–31.

28. But say the tribe that I descended of Were all in general cast away for sin, Shall I be tried by their transgression?

-MARLOWE, Jew i. 346-8.

29. She must have a story-well, ill, or indifferently told-so there be life stirring in it.-LAMB, Essays of Elia.

30. Had the Plantagenets succeeded in uniting all France under their government, it is probable that England would never have had an independent existence.-MACAULAY, History i. 14.

31. What is to become of them should their provision fail?-IRVING. 32. I could not love thee, dear, so much,

Loved I not honour more.-LOVELACE, To Lucasta.

33. Were half the power that fills the world with terror, Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and courts, Given to redeem the human mind from error,

There were no need of arsenals or forts.

-LONGFELLOW, The Arsenal at Springfield.

34. Suppose you were going to travel; would you plan to take a great deal of baggage?

NOTE. In the following sentences, it is is used in the main clause to avoid the repetition of the subject and the verb already used in the condition clause:

1. If they live simply, it is [i. e., they live so] because they prefer to do so. 2. If we dilate in beholding the Greek energy, the Roman pride, it is [i. e., we dilate] that we are already domesticating the same sentiment.— EMERSON, Self-Reliance.

CONCESSIVE CLAUSES

214. The CONCESSIVE CLAUSE is a statement which seems to deny or oppose the thought of the modified clause. The sentence asserts that the statement of the main clause is true in spite of the contradictory statement made in the concession expressed in the subordinate clause.

Though thou livest and breathest,

Yet art thou slain in him.-SHAKESPEARE, Richard II i. 2. 24-25.

It is most commonly introduced by though (although); yet other connectives are employed, which may be studied in the following exercises.

a. Rarely if introduces a concessive clause. The example given here is an ellipsis, and the missing parts of the clause are supplied in brackets.

1. A well-armed, if [it was] undisciplined, multitude poured forth. -BULWER, Rienzi ii. 8.

Here "if undisciplined" does not state a condition of their being well-armed. The author grants that the troops were undisciplined, but insists that they were well-armed in spite of that. On elliptical constructions see further Section 229. Even if, introducing a concessive clause, is more common.

2. Even if we were there, we did not see you.

b. Inversion of sentence order allows the omission of the connective. The concessive verb is in the subjunctive mood. 1. None can hear him, cry he ne'er so loud.

-MARLOWE, Jew iv. 1645.

2. Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.-PAYNE. 3. Come what may, I insist on going.

c. Generalized concessive clauses are found introduced by such words as whoever, whatever, however, etc., that is, by indefinite pronouns, adjectives, or adverbs.

1. I shall be happy, whatever befalls us.-BULWER, Caxtons xi. 1.

That is, though something most unpleasant should happen to us, I shall, nevertheless, be happy.

2. Howe'er deserved her doom might be,

Her treachery was faith to me.-BYRON, The Giaour.

d. The concessive clause is sometimes introduced by notwithstanding, or no matter.

1. You did rightly and honestly, too, notwithstanding she is the greatest beauty in the parish. -FIELDING, Joseph Andrews iv. 2. 2. No matter how rich he may be, he can not buy happiness.

NOTE.-The latter may be an ellipsis for a sentence containing a substantive clause.

1. [It, i. e.,] How rich he may be, [is] no matter.

Compare:

2. It is no matter if I do halt.-Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV i. 2. 275. Here the clause beginning with if is substantive, the logical subject of is.

e. A concessive clause presenting two alternatives is brought into the sentence by whether, and the second alternative is connected to the first by or.

1. I'll be your servant, whether you will or no [whether you will or you will not].--SHAKESPEARE, The Tempest iii. 1. 86.

2. The dominie loved a pun, whether it was let off in English, Greek, or Latin.-MARRYAT, Jacob Faithful i. 3.

This appears also in elliptical form.

3. She would go, whether or no;

that is, whether it was best, or desirable, or whether it was not.

f. Rarely the concessive clause is indicated by a verb-phrase in let.

they will not eclipse the

Let them be dealt with . . . harshly. central light that shines through his life.-Lewes.