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Tuvalet Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

if clause

Hello

Suppose that there was a thief trying to get in to our house.
when I saw him I suddenly closed the door.
but others didn't see him coming in to our house so they asked me why the hell did I closed the door.
So in this situation I would say

If I hadn't , we wouldn't be sitting here like that now because the thief was trying to get in to our house.

but someone said the exact thing in by using "didn't"

If I didn't, we wouldn't be sitting here like that now because the thief was trying to get in to the house

So I am confused which one is more accurate or more grammatical.

Thanks
  

Top answer

tuvalet If I hadn't , we wouldn't be sitting here like that now because the thief was trying to get in to our house. If I hadn't , we wouldn't be sitting here like this now because a thief was trying to get in to our house. The version with "didn't" is incorrect though sometimes heard/said.

— Ivanhr

  • tuvalet If I hadn't , we wouldn't be sitting here like that now because the thief was trying to get in to our house.
  • If I hadn't , we wouldn't be sitting here like this now because a thief was trying to get in to our house.
  • The version with "didn't" is incorrect though sometimes heard/said.
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5 Answers
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tuvaletIf I hadn't , we wouldn't be sitting here like that now because the thief was trying to get in to our house.
If I hadn't , we wouldn't be sitting here like this now because a thief was trying to get in to our house.

The version with "didn't" is incorrect though sometimes heard/said.
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thank you very much.
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Two conditional clauses:


[1] *“If I didn’t (close the door), we wouldn’t be sitting here now …”.

[2] “If I hadn’t (closed the door), we wouldn’t be sitting here now …”.


In [1], the condition in the if-clause implies that I didn't close the door, and the following clause indicates the consequence of that condition being fulfilled. But the conditi

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Thank you so much for your detailed answer.
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BillJI suspect that in AmE, “didn’t” is sometimes used with a conditional meaning

In my experience that's rare, though I'm sure there are people who use "didn't" that way.




CJ

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