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Rachelk Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Conditional sentences

I'm not sure what tense should I use when I give a reason here.

If I was 30 years old, I would be a good mother because I like children.
  

Top answer

If you are giving a reason, then your tense would only depend on the meaning you want to convey and not by the tense you used on the surrounding words. So you consider it as a separate sentence. In your case, it makes sense to make it present tense.

— Zymeth02

  • If you are giving a reason, then your tense would only depend on the meaning you want to convey and not by the tense you used on the surrounding words.
  • So you consider it as a separate sentence.
  • In your case, it makes sense to make it present tense.
  • ", then the meaning becomes different and you are saying you liked children in the past and quite possibly not anymore in the present.
  • And this is assuming you are not yet 30 years old in real life.
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4 Answers
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If you are giving a reason, then your tense would only depend on the meaning you want to convey and not by the tense you used on the surrounding words. So you consider it as a separate sentence. In your case, it makes sense to make it present tense. If you said "If I was 30 years old, I would be a good mother because I liked children.", then the meaning becomes different and you are saying
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If I were 30 years old, I would be a good mother because I like children.
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Mister MicawberIf I were 30 years old, I would be a good mother because I like children.


Isn't this one of the cases where you would be happy with 'was,' MM?
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Oh, I'm never happy with 'was', but I've learned to accept it.
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