I should not be very much surprised if this were he
“He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it would be as well for you to have your pistol ready."
The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at the door of the room,”
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
Hi. For the underlined part, do the two versions as follows work in this context?
I should not be very much surprised if this was he...
I should not be very much surprised if this is he...
If they do, do both mean the same as the original version?
And all three versions are second conditionals, right?
Thank you.
Top answer
Doyle wrote in the grammatical English of his time. In contemporary English, "was" would be acceptable. Yes, they are second conditional.
- Doyle wrote in the grammatical English of his time.
- In contemporary English, "was" would be acceptable.
- Yes, they are second conditional.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
Doyle wrote in the grammatical English of his time. In contemporary English, "was" would be acceptable.
Yes, they are second conditional.
0zuotengdazuoI should not be very much surprised if this were he whose step I hear now upon the stair.
An aside: I hope you realize that nobody writes or talks like this nowadays. It's actually pretty funny because it's so overly elegant by today's standards. At least I think so. It made me smile.
CJ
0
Related Questions