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Optilang Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
Conditional past-future
0 I had a situation today when a student did not turn up for his lesson.(11.00-11.45) A student in a later lesson (11.50-12.35) then tried to say - "If you had known he wasn't coming to his lesson you would go home early" This means I would have gone home at 13.20 instead of 14.30. But this sentence did not sound right to me. We wanted to talk about the future (going home) linked to the past. "If I had known he wasn't coming to the lesson I would go home early" - I would prefer the following "If I had known he wasn't coming to the lesson I COULD go home early" Does anyone have any thoughts on this? 02 br
00 Many thanks 02 br
00 Opti 0-
00 Many thanks 02 br
00 Opti 0-
Top answer
0 Both the antecedent and the consequent are past actions, so I'd say: 02 br 02 br 00 «If I had known he wasn't coming to the lesson I would have gone home earlier» 02 br 02 br 00 EDIT: And Welcome to the forum! 0-
- 0 Both the antecedent and the consequent are past actions, so I'd say: 02 br 02 br 00 «If I had known he wasn't coming to the lesson I would have gone home earlier» 02 br 02 br 00 EDIT: And Welcome to the forum!
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27 Answers
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0 Both the antecedent and the consequent are past actions, so I'd say: 02 br
02 br
00 «If I had known he wasn't coming to the lesson I would have gone home earlier» 02 br
02 br
00 EDIT: And Welcome to the forum! 0-
02 br
00 «If I had known he wasn't coming to the lesson I would have gone home earlier» 02 br
02 br
00 EDIT: And Welcome to the forum! 0-
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0 Hi, welcome to EnglishForward. 05 0 02 br
00 I don't understand your example, because I don't quite understand the context. Anyway, let's suppose you can arrange the schedule however you want, so that if a student doesn't show up you, can go on and then go home earlier. In that case, I would say it's ok to say something like: 02 br
01 i 01 b 00 If you had known tha
00 I don't understand your example, because I don't quite understand the context. Anyway, let's suppose you can arrange the schedule however you want, so that if a student doesn't show up you, can go on and then go home earlier. In that case, I would say it's ok to say something like: 02 br
01 i 01 b 00 If you had known tha
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0 No - the point is that going home would be later, after saying the sentence. 02 br
00 So at the time of speaking I knew that the student hadn't come - but I hadn't yet gone home. 02 br
00 If I was using this sentence the day after I would say - "If I had known he wasn't coming to the lesson I would have gone home early" 0-
00 So at the time of speaking I knew that the student hadn't come - but I hadn't yet gone home. 02 br
00 If I was using this sentence the day after I would say - "If I had known he wasn't coming to the lesson I would have gone home early" 0-
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1 blockquote
01 cite 10 optilang 12 cite 10 If I was using this sentence the day after I would say - "If I had known he wasn't coming to the lesson I would have gone home early" 12 blockquote10 I think you can use that sentence even if you have yet to go home, that same day. Or you could also just use "would", or just "could"... whatever you want
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0 Kooyeen: «I think you can use that sentence even if you have yet to go home, that same day. Or you could also just use "would", or just "could"... whatever you want, as long as it's conditional.» 02 br
02 br
00 Doesn't it depend on when the hypothetical going home happens? If it's in the past then "woud have" is required, and if it's in the future — "would go" is the only a
02 br
00 Doesn't it depend on when the hypothetical going home happens? If it's in the past then "woud have" is required, and if it's in the future — "would go" is the only a
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0 The times you give don't make any sense to me. 02 br
00 Why would the absence of a student at 11 and then the presence of another at 11:50 mean that you would be able to go home at 13:20 instead of 14:30? 02 br
00 It would make sense if the absent student were the last one of the day, but that doesn't seem to be the case. 02 br
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00 Why would the absence of a student at 11 and then the presence of another at 11:50 mean that you would be able to go home at 13:20 instead of 14:30? 02 br
00 It would make sense if the absent student were the last one of the day, but that doesn't seem to be the case. 02 br
00 CJ 0-
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0 Thanks guys for your welcome and your interest in helping with this one. 02 br
00 I will try to be a bit more specific. 02 br
00 If I had known he wasn't coming to the lesson - obviously when I said this I knew that he had not come 02 br
00 I would go/be going home earlier - I have not yet gone home (I still have some lessons to teach), but I would be able to go home
00 I will try to be a bit more specific. 02 br
00 If I had known he wasn't coming to the lesson - obviously when I said this I knew that he had not come 02 br
00 I would go/be going home earlier - I have not yet gone home (I still have some lessons to teach), but I would be able to go home
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0 The absent student was not the last one of the day - and if I had known that he wasn't attending I could have moved a later class to his slot - resulting in me being able to leave earlier. 02 br
00 This was the whole point of my original sentence 02 br
00 Hope it's a bit clearer now 02 br
00 Thanks for all the help 02 br
00 Opti 0-
00 This was the whole point of my original sentence 02 br
00 Hope it's a bit clearer now 02 br
00 Thanks for all the help 02 br
00 Opti 0-
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0 optilang: «I would go/be going home earlier - I have not yet gone home (I still have some lessons to teach)» 02 br
02 br
00 It doesn't matter when you will go home. The only important detail is the time of your hypothetical going home. If it's prior to the moment of speech, your choice is the Type 3 conditional ("would have"), and the mixed conditional (just "would') otherwis
02 br
00 It doesn't matter when you will go home. The only important detail is the time of your hypothetical going home. If it's prior to the moment of speech, your choice is the Type 3 conditional ("would have"), and the mixed conditional (just "would') otherwis
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