In chapter 2 I distinguished two major classes of conditionals on the basis of their usage of verb forms. I argued that the verb forms are indicative of the overall interpretation of a conditional construction as predictive or non-predictive. I further suggested that the choice of verb forms also helps to specify (or at least constrain) the nature of the relation between the protasis and the apodosis. In the present chapter I will discuss the types of such relations and their relationship to other parameters of conditionality.

The protasis/apodosis relation seems to be a particularly important aspect of conditional interpretations. As I argued above, neither of the clauses of a conditional construction is asserted in the construction, even though the content of a clause may be brought into the construction after being asserted in the context (e.g. in If she is giving the baby a bath, I'll call back later the protasis is not asserted by the speaker, but it quotes a statement of the other participant in the conversation). The if-clauses of predictive sentences thus cannot be interpreted as asserting their protases (or, consequently, their apodoses). As I have argued, the presence of if in the construction marks the assumption in its scope as unassertable. As a result, the assumption in the apodosis, which belongs to the same mental space as the protasis, is not treated as asserted either.