Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

OTHER CONDITIONAL CLAUSES WITH IF

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If it were not for

If it were/was not (had not been) for 

+ noun phrase refers to hypothetical

situations and actions:

If it weren’t for the police, I think those burglars would have got away with even more.

(if the police had not arrived/intervened)

If he were to

If

+ noun phrase + was/were to + verb (base form) also refers to hypothetical

situations and actions (with a singular subject, was to is less formal than were to):

If I was to say to you ‘Barcelona’, what would you think of?

If the headteacher were to resign, it would be a disaster for the school.

The garden’s really special. 

If Rick and Joan were to sell the house, people would

be queuing up to buy it.

Only if

Only if

is used to impose conditions:

You can go 

only if you are back by midnight.

Only

may be separated from if, with only in the main clause:

They’ll 

only let you check in if you’ve got a passport or photo ID.

Even if

Even if

may be used as an emphatic form of if:

Even if you flew business class, it would still be an exhausting journey.

If only

If only

is used to express a wish that things could be different. It refers to an unreal

condition. The clause often occurs without an accompanying main clause:

If only we could get to a warmer country in the winter. 

(I wish we could get to a warmer country in the winter.)