Examples of conditional statements in programming are

if

else

switch statments.

Each statement represents a distinct method, a distinct way of doing things. The method in each statement is only executed under certain conditions. If one set of conditions is met, a particular action occurs, and so on. A program plays around with these statements, assuring that while some of the time one method will execute, other times a different method will execute. The particular method that gets called at a given time depends on the flow of the program and shifts the flow of the program after it is executed.

An author can use (implicit) conditional statements in order to play around with reader expectations

if
    a character does a, i'll believe that he is b, and that he is a c kind of      character.
     else
if a character does x, i'll believe that he is y, and that he is a z kind of        character.

   
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