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Anonymous Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
difficult questions in English grammar about if-clauses
I have two questions and I badly need answers.
If he (won/had won) the cup after he had played the match, I'd have been happy with him
...about this sentence, I'll make it easy for you: I'll simplify the answer and you only need to show your approval or disapproval towards my answer - and of course if you have a new answer, it's welcome.
My answer is "won" and the evidence is just a logical explanation.
Note the following: the past perfect after "if" is the Past Perfect Subjunctive but it's not a tense. It's ,in fact, an unreal tense and it indicates a situation different from what had already happened.
In usual if-clauses, we use only one verb in the if-clause but in such sentences we are using a conjunction that requires a certain sequence of tenses that cannot be ignored, so this sequence of tenses must be applied even in the if-clause, and the past perfect doesn't necessarily follow the "if" conjunction immediately as long as another sequence of tenses must be applied.
Also, we must notice that the conjunction "after" and its two sentences are all part of the if-clause so we haven't broken any rules as we have already used the past perfect - not immediately after "if" as usual but this time after "after" which is part of the if-clause. I hope I have limited the possible answers now.
If he (won/had won) the cup after he had played the match, I'd have been happy with him
...about this sentence, I'll make it easy for you: I'll simplify the answer and you only need to show your approval or disapproval towards my answer - and of course if you have a new answer, it's welcome.
My answer is "won" and the evidence is just a logical explanation.
Note the following: the past perfect after "if" is the Past Perfect Subjunctive but it's not a tense. It's ,in fact, an unreal tense and it indicates a situation different from what had already happened.
In usual if-clauses, we use only one verb in the if-clause but in such sentences we are using a conjunction that requires a certain sequence of tenses that cannot be ignored, so this sequence of tenses must be applied even in the if-clause, and the past perfect doesn't necessarily follow the "if" conjunction immediately as long as another sequence of tenses must be applied.
Also, we must notice that the conjunction "after" and its two sentences are all part of the if-clause so we haven't broken any rules as we have already used the past perfect - not immediately after "if" as usual but this time after "after" which is part of the if-clause. I hope I have limited the possible answers now.
Top answer
"won" sounds wrong to me. It does not have the correct sense of past counterfactual. If the slight overload of "had won ...
- "won" sounds wrong to me.
- It does not have the correct sense of past counterfactual.
- If the slight overload of "had won ...
- had played" is a concern, I suggest "If he'd won the cup after playing the match, I'd have been happy with him".
- Or you could even just say "after the match".
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2 Answers
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"won" sounds wrong to me. It does not have the correct sense of past counterfactual. If the slight overload of "had won ... had played" is a concern, I suggest "If he'd won the cup after playing the match, I'd have been happy with him". Or you could even just say "after the match".
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You are starting from the sentence He won the cup after he had played the match, in which you show the time sequence of the actions in two ways: through the use of the past perfect; through the use of the word "after". "after" is sufficient, so all you need is He won the cup after he played the match. This will make the rest of your job easier.
You also have a third condi
You also have a third condi
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