An Exploration of Conditional Clause Exegesis 367 This system has been seriously criticized (6); an issue of relevance here is that apart from tense, central elements of the classification (shown in table 1 under “key features”) are based on the perceived sense of the conditions, rather than their structure. A number of grammarians (notably Gildersleeve) (7) have proposed instead that conditional clauses should be categorized primarily with reference to mood. Table 2 shows a widespread classification according to mood(8): CLASS PARTICLES (9) MOOD TENSE eij Indicative in protasis, any mood in apodosis Any tense 1st eij, a[n usually Secondary Indicative 2nd tenses found in apodosis ejavn 3rd Subjunctive Any tense eij 4th Optative Present / aorist A modified version of this, shown in Table 3, has been proposed by Porter (10). CLASS PARTICLE MOOD TENSE Indicative in protasis, Any tense except eij Ia any mood in apodosis future I - Assertion eij + a[n in apodosis Ib Indicative Secondary tenses ejavn Subjunctive Any tense IIa eij II - Projection Optative Present / aorist IIb eij Indicative Future IIc This division into class “I” and class “II” categories, emphasizing the importance of attitude (Porter’s designation for what is grammaticalized by the mood forms), has much to commend it. Porter himself has, however, made further use of the conventional (6) E.g. S.E. PORTER, Verbal Aspect in the Greek New Testament, with Reference to Tense and Mood (New York 1989) 292-293; WALLACE, Grammar, 706-707. (7) See WALLACE, Grammar, 705-706. (8) Adapted from WALLACE, Grammar, 689. A similar scheme is used by (amongst others): H.E. DANA –J.R. MANTEY A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament (Toronto 1955) 289-290; J.A. BROOKS – C.L. WINBERY, Syntax of New Testament Greek (Lanham 1979) 182-184. (9) There are a small number of examples in which eij is found with the subjunctive, and a similarly small number in which ejavn is found with the indicative. (10) PORTER, Verbal Aspect, ch.6.