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Ana poland Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

I knew if I did, it would ruin what we had (past time reference)

Hi,
I came across this sentence in an American tv show :
I knew if I did, it would ruin what we had.

If I was to follow the rules they teach you in school I would use the 3rd conditional here (as it's past time reference)
i.e.
I knew if I had done it, it would have ruin what we had

So how come 2nd conditional was used here with past time reference?
  

Top answer

It's reported speech/thought. His thought at the time was, "If I do, it will ruin what we have". We can therefore report this as: I knew (that) if I did, it would ruin what we had,

— Fivejedjon

  • It's reported speech/thought.
  • His thought at the time was, "If I do, it will ruin what we have".
  • We can therefore report this as: I knew (that) if I did, it would ruin what we had,
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2 Answers
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It's reported speech/thought.

His thought at the time was, "If I do, it will ruin what we have".

We can therefore report this as: I knew (that) if I did, it would ruin what we had,
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Thank you, I missed that:)
Actually I did a little research and I couldn't find the verb 'know' on any list of reporting verbs. I'm not saying you are not right, it's just that it's not so obvious for a learner to pick up on that right away.
Thank you again:)
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