Once More—The Promise (3)

In my previous article on this subject I made plain that though all conditional sentences are "if clause'' sentences, all "if-clause" sentences are not conditional sentences. I illustrated this point. I pointed out that the thought conveyed by such a statement as, "If a child breaks out with a scarlet rash, it has scarlet fever," is not certainly that a child is taken down with scarlet fever on the condition that it breaks out with scarlet rash. For certainly, so I remarked, the rash is not...