Non-conditional IFs

Question

So I've heard some (I don't know what to call) non-conditional Ifs, and I've been trying to figure it out how they work. It's not like the first time I get troubles with conditional sentences, I always kept thinking about them time and time, but I couldn't find any answer for some of them, some like when you need to (let me clarify with an example) :

I came there to see if you're okay.

As you clearly know, there's no such a grammatical sentence out there at least as far as I know. To my knowledge there are 4 of them and the one I just took an example of, is way different from the four.

The main question of mine is to get to know if there's any other kind of if or if-like sentences (in everyday English) ?!

Answer 1

What you seem to be talking about here is the so called "biscuit conditional", from J.L. Austin's famous example "There are biscuits on the sideboard if you want them"

There is an important difference between a BC and 'normal' conditional. If we look a 'normal' conditional such as the barbecue will be cancelled if it rains, the barbecue being cancelled becomes true only if the condition of "it rains" becomes true. This is what makes it conditional.

In a BC such as there is beer in the fridge if you want some, assuming that the speaker spoke truly there is beer in fridge if you want it, and there is still beer in the fridge if you don't want it. In other words, the beer in the fridge is always true. It is not linked to a condition, so a BC is not conditional.

So why do BCs exist, if all they do make an assertion? Why not just say *there is beer in the fridge"? The usual answer is that it is a hedge against being irrelevant or inappropriate, effectively: "I don't know if you want beer of not, but if you do it is in the fridge".

There are some arguments against this explanation though, so it is not cut and dried yet.

Answer 2

There are two types of if in English. The first is if one found in conditional sentences. This is not the same if as we find in the Original Poster's sentence.

There is a second, very important if, which has nothing to do with conditionals at all. It is an interrogative word, a question word, which we use in subordinate interrogative clauses. We use it to introduce embedded yes/no questions. There is a second, similar word to if, the word whether. The Original Poster's example is not a biscuit conditional or a relevance conditional - it is not a conditional at all. It is a sentence with an embedded question inside it. We could use the word whether instead in this example:

• I came here to see whether you are OK.

This sentence means

• I came here to see: Are you OK?

So, in short, in English we have a conditional if and an interrogative if. The Original Poster's sentence uses an interrogative-if (question-if).

Hope that's helpful!

Answer 3

All "if" predicates are conditional. Calling one of them non-conditional-if is rather oxymoronic.

The question has its answer in information science, particularly logic in linguistics.

The difference between the two is the placement of the conditional-test in the sequence of events.

1. -

   if (event A) 
   then {action B}
   else {action C}
   

2. -

   function isEvent(B)
   {
     action A { discover the event }
     if (event is B)
       return true
     else
       return false
   }
   

In 2nd case, an action is executed to find out what event happened, and if the event that happened is as expected, and to report the truth of the expectation to the decision maker.

The decision maker had deployed the function isEvent(expectedEvent) to report the conditional truth of the matter.