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Johnson13 Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Current English Grammar and Usage - Page 339

In that book, I come upon two things that I have never seen in my shelves of grammar books.

It says, we can use 'could I start up a business, and be sure it would succeed, I would do it', instead of the usual inversion auxiliary SHOULD.

Besides, it has an example sentence:

Had I regularly set something by, I would not have been in perpetual want now.

To be honest, I don't think it's correct, because when in this case the main cause refers to a present hypothetical event, the tense should be WOULD BE IN...

But I'm not sure; could you help me?
  

Top answer

Johnson13 But I'm not sure; could you help me? They are both correct, though not so often used. )

— Mister Micawber

  • Johnson13 But I'm not sure; could you help me?
  • They are both correct, though not so often used.
  • )
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9 Answers
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Johnson13But I'm not sure; could you help me?
They are both correct, though not so often used.

If I had = Had I is more common than Could I (and we can also use 'Should I', 'Had I to'—with different meanings of course.)
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How about the hypothetical sentence?

Does my argument have purchase?
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Johnson13How about the hypothetical sentence?
Please give it to us in full.
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The sentence: Had I regularly set something by, I would not have been in perpetual want now.

To be honest, I don't think it's correct, because when in this case the main cause refers to a present hypothetical event, the tense should be WOULD BE IN...
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Johnson13Had I regularly set something by, I would not have been in perpetual want now.
I see what you mean now; I was focussing on the initial inversion, which you brought up in your first sentence ('Could I...').
Yes you are right; it needs changing to one of these, for instance:

Had I regularly set something by, I would not be in perp
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Thanks. In this case, does it mean WOULD and COULD are different?

On the net, I've found something:

You can also use 'could have' to talk about possible present situations that have not happened.
    • I could have been earning a lot as an accountant but the work was just too boring.
    • He could have been Prime Minister now but he got involved
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Johnson13You can also use 'could have' to talk about possible present situations that have not happened. I could have been earning a lot as an accountant but the work was just too boring.He could have been Prime Minister now but he got involved in a big financial scandal.They could have been the market leaders now if they had taken his advice.
Yes, people do s
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Thanks.

Back to the WOULD HAVE BEEN/WOULD BE problem.

Generally speaking, WOULD HAVE BEEN is the past tense; WOULD BE is the present tense

I make an isolated sentence:

If he had chosen to be the manager of the company ten years ago, he would have been the manager for ten years now.

Using WOULD HAVE BEEN along with NOW, do you think it's ac
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Johnson13Using WOULD HAVE BEEN along with NOW, do you think it's acceptable
Yes. Now, now = by now.
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