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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

If Conditionals - Various Combinations

A. If you say 'yes', does it mean I am permitted?
B. If you say 'yes', will it mean I am permitted?
C. If you say 'yes', did it mean I am permitted?

D. If you said 'yes', does it mean I am permitted?
E. If you said 'yes', would it mean I am permitted?
F. If you said 'yes', did it mean I am permitted?

1. Which of the above are possible combinations?
2. How are the possible combinations different in meaning?
  

Top answer

A. If you say 'yes', does it mean I am permitted? (I'm always permitted) B.

  • A.
  • If you say 'yes', does it mean I am permitted?
  • (I'm always permitted) B.
  • If you say 'yes', will it mean I am permitted?
  • (there's a real possibility I'm permitted) C.
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7 Answers
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A. If you say 'yes', does it mean I am permitted? (I'm always permitted)
B. If you say 'yes', will it mean I am permitted? (there's a real possibility I'm permitted)
C. If you say 'yes', did it mean I am permitted?

D. If you said 'yes', does it mean I am permitted?
E. If you said 'yes', would it mean I am permitted? (unreal possibility)
F. If you said 'yes', did it mean
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Thank you, tania77maria, for your helpful response.

I was wondering if a native speaker has the same opinion. Please advise.
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In a nut shell, I agree with most of the explanations.

The only difference I see is "does" and "will" which by the way only show the reference of time rather than possibility, in my opinion.

If you say 'yes', does it mean
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AnonymousThank you, tania77maria, for your helpful response.I was wondering if a native speaker has the same opinion. Please advise.
I'm a native speaker, and I agree with tania's answer.

CJ
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Thank you, CJ and dimsumexpress, for your responses on this.

What about if I tweak sentence F a bit by changing 'is' to 'was', is it now possible?
If so, how is it different in meaning from the other correct answers?

F. If you said 'yes', did it mean I was permitted?
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AnonymousF. If you said 'yes', did it mean I was permitted?
This is OK in some contexts. You have to be talking about something that actually happened in the past, of course, because all the verbs are in the past.

CJ
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OK, thank you so much.

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