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Ant_222 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
"If I didn't somebody else would"
Hello all,
Here's a piece of dialog:
— You robbed me of my patent right.
— It was a fair deal. I only bought your idea. If I didn't somebody else would.
I wonder why did the second person use Type II conditional. The situation wherein he doesn't buy the idea is in the past, which I think requies the Type III conditional, to express an unreal past situation.
Thank you in advance,
Anton
Here's a piece of dialog:
— You robbed me of my patent right.
— It was a fair deal. I only bought your idea. If I didn't somebody else would.
I wonder why did the second person use Type II conditional. The situation wherein he doesn't buy the idea is in the past, which I think requies the Type III conditional, to express an unreal past situation.
Thank you in advance,
Anton
Top answer
Ant_222 If I didn't somebody else would. First of all I must apologize as I know nothing about the native forum members' classification of conditional clauses. The terms and names taught to me when I was 14 are different.
- Ant_222 If I didn't somebody else would.
- First of all I must apologize as I know nothing about the native forum members' classification of conditional clauses.
- The terms and names taught to me when I was 14 are different.
- However, I consider the above reply ungrammatical.
- I do know that it's very common in informal English.
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6 Answers
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Ant_222If I didn't somebody else would.First of all I must apologize as I know nothing about the native forum members' classification of conditional clauses. The terms and names taught to me when I was 14 are different. However, I consider the above reply ungrammatical. I do know that it's very common in informal English. I would say: If I hadn't, s
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Cool BreezeHowever, I consider the above reply ungrammatical. I do know that it's very common in informal English. I would say: If I hadn't, somebody else would have.Thank you, CB.
My own reply would be: "If I hadn't done (it now) somebody else would (do it in the future)" -- a Mixed conditional.
But my quote is from an Amer
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Ant_222My own reply would be: "If I hadn't done (it now) somebody else would (do it in the future)" -- a Mixed conditional.Oh yes, that sounds fine too. I didn't realize it.
CB
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On the other hand, it is only in the original quote that the tense of the If-Clause ("didn't") corresponds with that of the preceding sentence ("bought"). Could this have guided the author to use the otherwise incorrect conditional?
Anton
On the other hand, it is only in the original quote that the tense of the If-Clause ("didn't") corresponds with that of the preceding sentence ("bought"). Could this have guided the author to use the otherwise incorrect conditional?
Anton
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Ant_222Could this have guided the author to use the otherwise incorrect conditional?You'll have to ask the author.
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