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Anonymous Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
How to conjugate verb "to be" with the word "would" in use?
"Who would eat a cake without knowing what is in it?"
"Who would eat a cake without knowing what was in it?"
In an example like this, is it correct to use "is" or "was"? Being a hypothetical statement, the past tense ("was") should be used, correct? Or have I been misunderstanding everything I've been reading thus far?
"Who would eat a cake without knowing what was in it?"
In an example like this, is it correct to use "is" or "was"? Being a hypothetical statement, the past tense ("was") should be used, correct? Or have I been misunderstanding everything I've been reading thus far?
Top answer
I would use "is". The clause "what is in it" is not the part of the sentence that is hypothetical. " I know what is in this cake.
- I would use "is".
- The clause "what is in it" is not the part of the sentence that is hypothetical.
- " I know what is in this cake.
- Would I eat it?
- I don't know what is in this cake.
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6 Answers
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I would use "is".
The clause "what is in it" is not the part of the sentence that is hypothetical. The hypothetical part is "knowing."
I know what is in this cake. Would I eat it?
I don't know what is in this cake. Would I eat it?
Would you eat the cake if you knew what is in it?
Would you have eaten the cake if you had known what what was
The clause "what is in it" is not the part of the sentence that is hypothetical. The hypothetical part is "knowing."
I know what is in this cake. Would I eat it?
I don't know what is in this cake. Would I eat it?
Would you eat the cake if you knew what is in it?
Would you have eaten the cake if you had known what what was
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When I wrote my example, I was thinking that the "eating" (rather than the "knowing") would be the hypothetical aspect of the sentence. We have established that they already don't know what is in the cake, so I wouldn't think that to be the hypothetical part. However, no one is actually eating the cake, we're just assuming they are to make our argument. I thought I had this figured out, but now I'
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Let's take some simpler examples:
If I were rich (hypothetical condition), I would retire (consequence).
If I knew all the words in the dictionary (hypothetical condition), I would get an "A" on every vocabulary test.
You would drown there unless you knew how to swim (hypothetical condition),.
Actually, when considering it further, either "is" or "was" could work in yo
If I were rich (hypothetical condition), I would retire (consequence).
If I knew all the words in the dictionary (hypothetical condition), I would get an "A" on every vocabulary test.
You would drown there unless you knew how to swim (hypothetical condition),.
Actually, when considering it further, either "is" or "was" could work in yo
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I'm very thick...please forgive me! Let me try one more time here:
Because "would eat" is the "present conditional", I would use the "present tense", which would be "is".
However, if the example read "Who would have eaten a cake...", that would be the "perfect conditional" (meaning that it's already happened hypothetically), and I would have to use the "past tense", which
Because "would eat" is the "present conditional", I would use the "present tense", which would be "is".
However, if the example read "Who would have eaten a cake...", that would be the "perfect conditional" (meaning that it's already happened hypothetically), and I would have to use the "past tense", which
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Anonymous"Who would eat a cake without knowing what is in it?""Who would eat a cake without knowing what was in it?"Pardon my butting in. I find them both plausible. Without even stopping to analyze it, I'd use "was", but "is" sounds just fine, too. A would-clause without an explicit if-clause is a bit tricky. There can be multiple analyses.
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Yes! It's being very tricky! I've tried rewording it into an if-clause to see if that made things easier, but I had no luck with that. Thanks for the input, you can **** in anytime! That's two votes for "either one will work", so that's good enough for me!
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