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 manner.

Since _the children_ are _so badly brought-up_, &c.--This is an instance of
the first construction. The speaker admits as an actual fact the _bad
bringing-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.

s. 510. Now, if every conjunction had a fixed unvariable meaning, there
would be no difficulty in determining whether 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 admitted as well as one which
is doubted.

a. Although _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 may be used instead of _since_.

In some languages this interchange goes farther than in others; in the
Greek, for instance, such is the case with [Greek: ei], to a very great
extent indeed.

Hence we must look to the meaning of the sentence in general, rather than
to the particular conjunction used.

It is a philological fact that _if_ may stand instead of _since_.

It is also a philological 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.

s. 511. As a point of practice, the following method of determining the
amount of doubt expressed in a conditional proposition is useful:--

Insert, immediately after the conjunction, one of the two following
phrases,--(1.) _as is the case_; (2.) _as may or may not be the case_. By
ascertaining which of these two supplements expresses the meaning of the
speaker, we ascertain the mood of the verb which follows.

When the first formula is the one required, there is no element of doubt,
and the verb should be in the indicative mood. _If_ (_as is the case_), _he
_is_ gone, I must follow him_.

When the second formula is the one required, there _is_ an eleme