Mixed Conditionals

[jack]

http://www.quepublishing.com/article...71493&seqNum=2
1. If your garage is very small, you would be well advised to hang as much as possible on the walls.
2. If your garage is very small, you will be well advised to hang as much as possible on the walls. (This is one of the standard conditionals right? But it is better to use the mixed conditional #1 because I don't know for sure if you will be well advised?)

3. If your garage was very small, you would be well advised to hang as much as possible on the walls. (I'm saying that your garage is not small? Which might not be true. So I cannot use this type of conditional right? I have to use #1?)

If #1 is okay, do we view it as a mixed conditional or do we view it like this:
4. If your garage is very small, you would be well advised to hang as much as possible on the walls if someone was advising you.

5. If your garage is very small, you will probably be well advised to hang as much as possible on the walls. (If I do use the standard form, I should add 'probably' right? If you look at #2, it doesn't sound plausible because I'm saying for a fact that you will be well advised)

Thanks.

[Mister Micawber]

In #1, the 'would' is a distancer for politeness rather than a mixed conditional, Jack (though, actually, I have so far missed any definition of 'mixed conditional').

#2, as you say, is the standard 'Conditional I'.

#3, as I have said elsewhere, I consider casual only, and the careful writer should use 'were'. The speaker does not know the size of the garage in either case.

#4 mixes your conditionals again, as you have two 'if' clauses, and the second is redundant (you can't add meta-grammar into the sentence, Jack!) 'If your garage were small, and if someone were advising you, you would be advised to do...'

In #5 there is no need for 'probably' unless the speaker is unsure of his advice; and that is not relevant to this discussion-- the unsureness is of the garage's dimensions, not the advice.