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Andrei Posted 22 years ago
Grammar
Birthday
My father would have been 88 if he had been alive today.
Is the above correct? A man told me the above just to mention his late father's birthday.
Is the above correct? A man told me the above just to mention his late father's birthday.
Top answer
1) > From a grammatical point of view, yes, that is correct. Note, you could write this as... 2) Had my father been alive today, he would have been 88.
- 1) > From a grammatical point of view, yes, that is correct.
- Note, you could write this as...
- 2) Had my father been alive today, he would have been 88.
- " I *** I got the tense above correct.
- Someone with a stronger grammar background might correct me.
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29 Answers
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1) >
From a grammatical point of view, yes, that is correct.
Note, you could write this as...
2) Had my father been alive today, he would have been 88.
We can see the past perfect tense, "had my father been alive" +
we can also see the present perfect continuous, "he would have been 88."
I *** I got the tense above correct. Someone with a
From a grammatical point of view, yes, that is correct.
Note, you could write this as...
2) Had my father been alive today, he would have been 88.
We can see the past perfect tense, "had my father been alive" +
we can also see the present perfect continuous, "he would have been 88."
I *** I got the tense above correct. Someone with a
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how about this
my father would be 88 if he was alive today.
since you r using "today" it would be more appropriate to use the past simple form of the conditional sentence.
plz answer andrei, you never seem to give any response to my answer. Am i really that bad?
my father would be 88 if he was alive today.
since you r using "today" it would be more appropriate to use the past simple form of the conditional sentence.
plz answer andrei, you never seem to give any response to my answer. Am i really that bad?
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<>
Close. It's okay for "informal" but it should be....
My father would be 88 if he were alive today. It calls for the subjunctive.
Because my father is NOT alive today, we are "pretending" and thus need to use the subjunctive.
If you *** here, I would explain it to you in person. You are not here. There
Close. It's okay for "informal" but it should be....
My father would be 88 if he were alive today. It calls for the subjunctive.
Because my father is NOT alive today, we are "pretending" and thus need to use the subjunctive.
If you *** here, I would explain it to you in person. You are not here. There
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Hi, Andrei 
A couple of things:
Yor sentence is perfect.
Mountain Hiker posted another possibility which is also corre
A couple of things:
Yor sentence is perfect.
Mountain Hiker posted another possibility which is also corre
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<<"Had my father been alive today, he would have been 88."
You have to be careful with this sentence, though, because it is very formal and it would be used mainly in writing –a formal piece of writing. It isn't what you will hear in everyday, colloquial speech. >>
I disagree. I hear that form commonly used in everyday colloquial speech. If you deal with people in a busine
You have to be careful with this sentence, though, because it is very formal and it would be used mainly in writing –a formal piece of writing. It isn't what you will hear in everyday, colloquial speech. >>
I disagree. I hear that form commonly used in everyday colloquial speech. If you deal with people in a busine
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I thank everybody for answering the questions. I am delighted to read all expert comments. This enhances my knowledge of English.
Babu asked me to reply when he answered my questions. You are great. I appreciate your comments in the same way I appreciated others comments.
I must tell you one thing; I dislike when you deliberately start a sentence with a simple letter. I don't
Babu asked me to reply when he answered my questions. You are great. I appreciate your comments in the same way I appreciated others comments.
I must tell you one thing; I dislike when you deliberately start a sentence with a simple letter. I don't
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Thanks adrei and miriam,
well coming back to the use of tense, i have a question
"had my father been alive today he would have been 88"
This sentence talks about present time. But the tense used in here is past perfect which, usually talks about past time.
So I think the use of past perfect would sound more natural if the time it refered to here was past.
well coming back to the use of tense, i have a question
"had my father been alive today he would have been 88"
This sentence talks about present time. But the tense used in here is past perfect which, usually talks about past time.
So I think the use of past perfect would sound more natural if the time it refered to here was past.
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Andrei,
I know you usually worry aobut the correct use of capitalisation, and your posts are great help.
I seldom comment
I know you usually worry aobut the correct use of capitalisation, and your posts are great help.
I seldom comment
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Miriam
This website differs from chatting or emails, as far as I am concerned. People want to improve English by asking questions. So you should criticise or help when there is a mistake.
This website differs from chatting or emails, as far as I am concerned. People want to improve English by asking questions. So you should criticise or help when there is a mistake.
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"he would have been 88" strikes me as a bit awkward. It takes the past tense which implies that he would have been 88 some time in the past as opposed to right now. If that's what you want to say (ie he was born more than 88 years ago as opposed to exactly 88 years ago to the day) then it's all right.
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