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English 1b3 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Conditionals--Backshifts
Suppose I'm dealing with a likely situation (it is likely I don't get the time).
1) Are all these first conditional (or do we label a conditional 1st 2nd or 3rd based on the verbs it uses, not the likelihood of the condition)?
2) I'm pretty sure we don't backshift unreal tenses, so am I right to have c as past subjunctive, not past perfect subjunctive?
a) I take my food in a lunchbox to work so that if I don't get time to eat it, I can take it home with me.
b) I took my food in a lunchbox to work so that if I didn't get time to eat it, I could take it home with me.
c) I had taken my food in a lunchbox to work so that if didn't get time to eat it, I could take it home with me.
1) Are all these first conditional (or do we label a conditional 1st 2nd or 3rd based on the verbs it uses, not the likelihood of the condition)?
2) I'm pretty sure we don't backshift unreal tenses, so am I right to have c as past subjunctive, not past perfect subjunctive?
a) I take my food in a lunchbox to work so that if I don't get time to eat it, I can take it home with me.
b) I took my food in a lunchbox to work so that if I didn't get time to eat it, I could take it home with me.
c) I had taken my food in a lunchbox to work so that if didn't get time to eat it, I could take it home with me.
Top answer
English 1b3 Are all these first conditional No. Only the first. The other two are second conditionals.
- English 1b3 Are all these first conditional No.
- Only the first.
- The other two are second conditionals.
- English 1b3 am I right to have c as past subjunctive, not past perfect subjunctive?
- It's fine.
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1 Answers
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English 1b3Are all these first conditionalNo. Only the first. The other two are second conditionals.
English 1b3am I right to have c as past subjunctive, not past perfect subjunctive?It's fine. You could have correctly backshifted as shown below, as there is no "rule" against it, but I think that many people woul
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