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Moivile Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

If I could have done it, ...

Is this sentence grammatically correct?

?? would have lent you the book last week if you could have called for it.
Is "if you could have called" a subjunctive form?

Thank you!
  

Top answer

I would say: He would have lent you the book last week if you had asked for it. CB

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  • I would say: He would have lent you the book last week if you had asked for it.
  • CB
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13 Answers
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I would say: He would have lent you the book last week if you had asked for it.

CB
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I know that your variant is correct.
But I must know if my variant is grammatically correct.
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Please help me answer my question.
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Moivile?? would have lent you the book last week if you could have called for it.
You need if you had called/asked for it or if you had been able to call/ask for it. The past perfect forms had called, had asked, and had been able are in fact called "subjunctive" in that context. could is not normally used as a subju
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Grammar GeekNo, it's not.

Thank you for answering.
You want to say that "if I could + Perfect Infinitive" is an incorrect construction, don't you?
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Many thanks!
CalifJim could is not normally used as a subjunctive though it sometimes occurs in a subjunctive context.

But the following sentence is grammatically correct, isn't it?

?? could have lent you the book last week if you had called for it.

And "could have lent" in this sentence is a subjun
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I think that because of the way you copied that it's going to mess up if I reply to it, so I'll reply to a different post within this thread. It looks like you copied even the reply button.

The subjunctive part of an if statement occurs only in the if clause, not in the main clause, so that could in the main clause is absolutely, definitely not a subjunctive.
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Thank you very much!
CalifJimso that could in the main clause is absolutely, definitely not a subjunctive.

The sentence is correct, but could have lent is not a subjuntive.

Could in the main clause is probably a conditional mood, isn't it?
CalifJim could is not normally used as a subj
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MoivileCould in the main clause is probably a conditional mood, isn't it?
Yes.
MoivileBut could in the following sentence is a subjunctive, isn't it?


?? would lent lend you the book if you could call for it.
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