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Fattyshank Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Can't understand the difference.

Hello everybody.

I have some problems with conditional sentences. For example, what could be more correct if I want to say to a person that failed his mission to hide from another person?

You had to hide from her so that she would not see you.

or

You should have hidden from her so that she wouldn't have/had't caught you.

Thank you!
  

Top answer

They're not conditional sentences , They are clauses of purpose. You use a purpose clause when you want to state the purpose of an action. A) You had to hide from her so that she COULDN'T see you.

— Jossx

  • They're not conditional sentences , They are clauses of purpose.
  • You use a purpose clause when you want to state the purpose of an action.
  • A) You had to hide from her so that she COULDN'T see you.
  • You had to hide from her (the action) so that she COULDn't see you ( the purpose) B) You should have hidden from her so that she couldn't have caught you.
  • You should have hidden from her (the action) so that she couldn't have caught you (the purpose) Both sentences are semantically similar in what they want to express.
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1 Answers
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They're not conditional sentences , They are clauses of purpose.

You use a purpose clause when you want to state the purpose of an action.

A) You had to hide from her so that she COULDN'T see you.

You had to hide from her (the action) so that she COULDn't see you ( the purpose)

B) You should have hidden from her so that she couldn't have caught you.
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