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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Before I arrived in Oxford, if I were to ask myself

Before I arrived in Oxford and spoke with William, if I were to ask myself the whereabouts of Sir Thomas Morton, I'd be unable to tell you. However, after having now spoken with William, I can confidently tell you that Sir Thomas Morton is nowhere at all, for he is in fact, dead.
  

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Anonymous Before arriving in Oxford and speaking with William, if I had asked myself as to the whereabouts of Sir Thomas Morton, I'd have been unable to tell you. However, after having now spoken with William, I can confidently tell you that Sir Thomas Morton is nowhere at all, for he is in fact, dead. Question: Do you really mean "ask yourself " ?

— Philip

  • Anonymous Before arriving in Oxford and speaking with William, if I had asked myself as to the whereabouts of Sir Thomas Morton, I'd have been unable to tell you.
  • However, after having now spoken with William, I can confidently tell you that Sir Thomas Morton is nowhere at all, for he is in fact, dead.
  • Question: Do you really mean "ask yourself " ?
  • That sounds odd to me.
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3 Answers
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AnonymousBefore arriving in Oxford and speaking with William, if I had asked myself as to the whereabouts of Sir Thomas Morton, I'd have been unable to tell yo
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Before arriving in Oxford and speaking with William, if you'd asked the whereabouts of Sir Thomas Morton, I'd have been unable to tell you. However, after having now spoken with William, I can confidently tell you that Sir Thomas Morton is nowhere at all, for he is in fact, dead.

- What is wrong with 'Before I arrived in Oxford and spoke with William'? And 'I'd be unable to tell you'.
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We're dealing with complex sentences that involve certain tenses and agreement. I tried to simplify the agreement as well as the sequence of tenses. A look at the post just before this might help. arriving in Oxford and speaking with William refer to you, the speaker, so the following If you'd asked does not agree. Participial phrases must agree with th
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