Grammar

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Hello, I have two questions related to the grammar in the following sentences.If you answer my questions, I thank you for answering.My presentation went better than expected, and my manager seemed particularly pleased. Later that day, my manager called me into her office. She smiled at me and said, “James, you’ve been with us for six years now. How would you feel if I were to offer you the Sales Director position in London?” Sales Director in London! Wow! This was a dream come true for me. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard!Q1) How would you feel if I were to offer you the Sales Director position in London?How would you feel if I offered you the Sales Director position in London?Is there any difference in meaning between two sentences?Q2) Is the following sentence grammatically correct?This was a dream come true for me. How about this? This was that a dream would come true for me. Are the two sentences above the same?Please reply.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Q1) The two sentences have the same meaning: "How would you like to be Sales Director in London?" But the tone of the two is slightly different. The first sentence has more words, and the reason for this is to enhance the sentence rhythm and make the sentence more impressive-sounding. The second sentence is shorter and has a more everyday, businesslike tone.

Q2) The first sent

Q2) The first sentence, the one in the text, is correct. The second sentence has a different meaning and cannot be used in the text. It would be used, for example, in the following:

I had a difficult time growing up. Nothing seemed to work out for me. Everything I tried failed. But I kept myself going by always keeping a wish I alive in my mind: "This (wish) was that (someday) a dream would come true for me."

Anonymous · Answer

Juniper KimQ1) How would you feel if I were to offer you the Sales Director position in London?How would you feel if I offered you the Sales Director position in London?Is there any difference in meaning between two sentences?Q2) Is the following sentence grammatically correct?This was a dream come true for me. How about this? This was that a dream would come true for me. Are the two sentences above the same?

Q-1 used the subjunctive construction. "If I were to" is hypothetically used to elevate the subjunctive mood of the context. It has the approximate meaning as " highly hypothetically likely ". If your boss said" If I were to pick a person to replace the vacant district manager position right now, you would be one of the candidates". Both subjunctive and conditional construction have the same core meaning.

CalifJim · Answer

Juniper Kim
Q1) How would you feel if I were to offer you the Sales Director position in London?
How would you feel if I offered you the Sales Director position in London?
Is there any difference in meaning between two sentences?

No. The first is a variant form of the second conditional seen in the second.

If I told you about it, you would be amazed. (second conditional)
If I were to tell you about it, you would be amazed. (variant)

Juniper KimQ2) Is the following sentence grammatically correct?This was a dream come true for me.

Yes. 'a dream come true' is a fixed idiom. There is little to be gained by trying to analyze its internal structure. It is used as a short form of 'a dream which has come to be true' (~ 'which has become true').

Juniper KimHow about this? This was that a dream would come true for me.

No. That's not grammatical.

Juniper KimAre the two sentences above the same?

No, as explained above.

CJ

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