Confusing

Question

I thought she told you.I thought she had told you.I thought she would’ve told you. What is the difference in meaning between the sentence above? Somebody please help.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

anonymous
1) I thought she told you.
2) I thought she had told you.
3) I thought she would’ve told you.
What is the difference in meaning between the sentences above? Somebody please help.

1) and 2) are equivalent. 1) simply makes the common substitution of past tense for past perfect tense, which you can do when the change of tense doesn't change the meaning.

3) is about the same, but adds the speaker's surprise or puzzlement that 'she' did not tell 'you'.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

anonymous
I thought she told you.
I thought she had told you.
I thought she would’ve told you.
What is the difference in meaning between the sentence above? Somebody please help.

I don’t know if I am confused or I understood it wrong. Here is what GPY said.

1. "I called Jessie around 6 pm because I figured she would’ve got home by then."

In this sentence, the (assumed) time of her getting home is before 6 pm, i.e. before the time of your figuring, not after. "would" is understood to be signifying speaker's belief (as contrasted with known fact), not future time. Compare "It was January. By the end of the year he would have written his first novel." In this case "would have" is interpreted as "future-perfect-in-the-past", i.e. "would" does have a future (in the past) sense. This latter use of "would have" is relatively uncommon, I would say, but it is only from context that we can understand which kind of "would" is intended.

It seems like there are two types of would’ves. One is future perfect in the past which the sentence “By the end of the year he would have written his first novel." demonstrates. The would’ve in the sentence, "I called Jessie around 6 pm because I figured she would’ve got home by then." is NOT future perfect in the past. Here, her getting home happened before my figuring and calling.

I am confused.

Confusing

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