1. What are Conditionals?
2. What are the main categories of Conditionals?
3. Which are the most commonly used Conditionals?
4. Is there any difference in meaning when the "if" clause goes first or second in a sentence?
5. Are there any Conditionals that include other words besides "if"?
6. Can Conditionals be classified in more than one category?
7. Do tense and time have a direct relationship when used in conditional clauses ?

According to David Crystal (1991), a conditional is "a term used in grammatical description to refer to clauses whose semantic role is the expression of hyphotheses or conditions. In English, these are introduced by if, unless, and few other conjunctions".

After reading some other explanations found in grammar textbooks, it can be said that conditionals are sentences that usually have two parts: a main clause and the subordinate clause (most of the time the sentence that begins with "if").
These sentences express a relationship between a condition and an outcome. The ocurrence of the result depends on the accomplishment of this condition.

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Conditionals have three main categories: factual conditionals, predictive conditionals and imaginative conditionals. The first category refers to conditions in the "if" clause that are likely to happen and the most common tense here is the present simple.
The second category refers to plans or eventualities. The tenses used here are the simple present and a modal (will, may, might). The third one refers to facts that either cannot be changed or are very unlikely to occur and the most common tenses here are the past tense and the past perfect.

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According to Celce-Murcia (1999) the most common type of conditionals are the generic, factual, the future, and the present hypothetical conditionals.

Refer to the section on the Semantics of Conditionals.

According to "The Grammar Book" almos 80% of Conditional sentences are used in these situations:

• to talk about possible events
• to present contrasts
• to introduce examples
• to make inference about assumptions previously made.

In many cases the Conditionals begin with the "if" clause.

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The meaning of the conditional sentence is not affected by the order of the clauses. However, when the subordinate clause (if...) begins the sentence, a comma (,) should be inserted before the next clause.

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Yes, there are many other expressions that convey the sense of a condition Among those expressions we find: unless, even though, even if, only if, if only, on condition that, in case, and some others.

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Yes, especially when we take into account the subtle differences in meaning that exist in conditionals.

For example, a sentence can be uderstood as a hypothetical conditional and at the same time be considered a sarcastic statement. It all depends on the context, who is speaking, and even the tone of voice used. On the other hand we need to think that what might be impossible to someone can be very probable for another person.

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No, in fact this is a common problem when teaching Conditionals. Some students find it hard to understand why a sentence in present is used to make inferences about the future. In the same way the past perfect tense can be used to indicate regret in the present for something that happened (or not) in the past.

Usually, the present tense is utilized when the speaker talks about the predisposition of doing something in the future.

For example:

If I finish my chores early, I certainly will be there.

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