Part 58 (1/2)

3 ----Revenge back on itself recoils

Let it I reck not, _so_ it _light_ well aimed--J MILTON

4 _If_ this _be_ the case

5 _Although_ my house _be_ not so with God--_Old Testa _unless_ he _wash_ his flesh ater--_Old Testament_

Expressions like _except_ and _unless_ are equally conditional ords like _if_ and _provided that_, since they are equivalent to _if--not_

Expressions like _though_ and _although_ are peculiar They join propositions, of which the one is a _priainst the existence of the other: and this is the conditional eleht-up, they are not to be trusted_, the _bad bringing-up_ is the reason for their being _unfit to be trusted_; and, as far as the expression is concerned, _is admitted to be so_ The only uncertainty lies in the question as to the degree of the badness of the education The inference fro _if_, we say _although_, and oh the children be so badly brought-up they are to be trusted_, we do two things: we indicate the general relation of cause and effect that exists between _bad bringing-up_ and _unfitness for being trusted_, but we also, at the same time, take an exception to it in the particular instance before us These re the extent to which words like _though_, &c, are conditional

It must be remembered, however, that conjunctions, like the ones lately quoted, do not govern subjunctive moods because they are conditional, but because, in the particular condition which they accompany, there is an element of uncertainty

-- 509 This introduces a fresh question Conditional conjunctions are of two sorts:--

1 Those which express a condition as an actual fact, and one admitted as such by the speaker

2 Those which express a condition as a possible fact, and one which the speaker either does not admit, or admits only in a qualified ht-up_, &c--This is an instance of the first construction The speaker ad-up of the children_

If _the children_ be _so badly brought-up_, &c--This is an instance of the second construction The speaker admits as a possible (perhaps, as a probable) fact the _bad bringing-up of the children_: but he does not adopt it as an indubitable one

-- 510 Now, if every conjunction had a fixed unvariablewhether a condition was absolute, and beyond doubt, or possible, and liable to doubt But such is not the case

_Although_ may precede a proposition which is adh _the children_ are, &c

b Although _the children_ be, &c

_If_, too, may precede propositions wherein there is no doubt whatever implied: in other words it es this interchange goes farther than in others; in the Greek, for instance, such is the case with e?, to a very great extent indeed

Hence we eneral, rather than to the particular conjunction used

It is a philological fact that _if_ ical fact that when it does so it should be followed by the indicative mood

This is written in the way of illustration What applies to _if_ applies to other conjunctions as well

-- 511 As a point of practice, the followingthe amount of doubt expressed in a conditional proposition is useful:--