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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Had collapsed
Hi,
"“I’m not entirely sure what they’re protesting about,” says Jonathan, a 28-year-old City lawyer who has visited during his lunch break out of curiosity. “Would they rather the entire financial system had collapsed? I can see that many things are wrong in the City but they require boring solutions like better regulation and more information for consumers.” [From The Telegraph.]
Why did the City lawyer use the past perfect "had collapsed" in the question “Would they rather the entire financial system had collapsed?" . I think that has something to do with the sequence of tense rule but I'm not sure that the past form of 'will', 'would', introduces the 'unreal' present/future here or describes 'their' unfulfilled wish in the past.
Thank you.
"“I’m not entirely sure what they’re protesting about,” says Jonathan, a 28-year-old City lawyer who has visited during his lunch break out of curiosity. “Would they rather the entire financial system had collapsed? I can see that many things are wrong in the City but they require boring solutions like better regulation and more information for consumers.” [From The Telegraph.]
Why did the City lawyer use the past perfect "had collapsed" in the question “Would they rather the entire financial system had collapsed?" . I think that has something to do with the sequence of tense rule but I'm not sure that the past form of 'will', 'would', introduces the 'unreal' present/future here or describes 'their' unfulfilled wish in the past.
Thank you.
Top answer
Anonymous Would they rather the entire financial system had collapsed? It's a reference to a time previous to the protests - several years ago, in fact, when markets were crashing. It's a counterfactual.
- Anonymous Would they rather the entire financial system had collapsed?
- It's a reference to a time previous to the protests - several years ago, in fact, when markets were crashing.
- It's a counterfactual.
- The entire system did not collapse.
- The use of the past perfect here is similar to its use in a third conditional.
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2 Answers
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AnonymousWould they rather the entire financial system had collapsed?It's a reference to a time previous to the protests - several years ago, in fact, when markets were crashing.
It's a counterfactual. The entire system did not collapse. The use of the past perfect here is similar to its use in a third conditional. What if the entire syste
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