What does "should"mean here

Question

Should he survive his first encounter without her eating him.

 

It is a sarcastic comment I've heard in a film. I'm pretty sure this is a conditional form. Is inversion happening in a sentence common? 

More examples? 

 

Answer 1

Hi,

Should in these sentences means "If" in a formal form.

Meantime , without question mark at the end , these kind of sentences either are followed (after a comma) by an ending part or are placed in the ending part of a two-part sentence (in the latter case the word should to be written by a small s.

Please visit the below link , which you may find useful regarding your above question.

Please also note below example which I've extracted from said link :

There is also a subtle idea about "should" in that it is supposed to express a minimal amount of doubt.

If you have any questions (I don't know if you will or not), please don't hesitate to ask.

Should you have any questions (and I rather doubt you will), please don't hesitate to ask.

 

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