Exercise 50 (§§ 411–427, Pp. 167–172)
1. Tell whether the conditional clauses in the following sentences are non-committal or contrary to fact, and whether they represent present, past, or future condition.
1. Should Hayley be with you, tell him I have given my friend Mr. Rose an introductory letter to him. 2. If the judgment against him was illegal, it ought to have been reversed. If it was legal, there was no ground for remitting any part of it. 3. If I ever saw horror in the human face, it was there. 4. His affliction would have been insupportable, had not he been comforted by the daily visits and conversations of his friend. 5. We perish if they hear a shot.—Scott. 6. Can Freedom breathe if Ignorance reign?—Holmes. 7. If power be in the hands of men, it will sometimes be abused. 8. If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars.—Clough. 9. If you write to Moore, will you tell him that I shall answer his letter the moment I can muster time and spirits? 10. If you have any good news to tell, it will not be unwelcome; if any bad, you need not be afraid. 11. I feel quite as much bored with this foolery as it deserves, and more than I should be, if I had not a headache. 12. Will you let me offer you this little book? If I had anything better, it should be yours.
13. I shall hope, if we can agree as to dates, to come to you sometime in May. 14. If I could only get to work, we could live here with comfort. 15. If he had been left to himself, he would have whistled life away in perfect contentment. 16. If this frolic should lay me up with a fit of rheumatism, I shall have a blessed time with Dame Van Winkle. 17. I know that two and two make four, and should be glad to prove it, if I could,—though, I must say, if by any sort of process I could convert two and two into five, it would give me much greater pleasure.—Byron. 18. I would not say this if I could help it. 19. If you are disposed to write—write; and if not, I shall forgive your silence, and you will not quarrel with mine. 20. Had not exercise been absolutely necessary for our well-being, nature would not have made the body so proper for it.—Addison. 21. Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome.—Johnson. 22. If fashion gives the word, every distinction of beauty, complexion, or stature ceases.
—Goldsmith.
2. Write twenty sentences, each containing a conditional clause. Tell whether each condition refers to present, past, or future time. Which of them are contrary to fact?