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Aoko Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

If I had been you,>>>>????

0Hi, I am an English teacher in Japan.02br
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00I know ` If I were you, I would ~~~`. But, does anyone say `If I had been you, I would have p.p.~~`???02br
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00I think `If I were you`means `If I was(were) in your shoes,` or` If I was(were) in this situation`, or `If I was (were) faced with this problem` This is usually followed by some suggestion or advice. For me , this sounds highly idiomatic expression and seems one symbolic representative of Western Individualism. Therefore, `If I had been you` must be weird. Of course, it's OK to say `If I had been in your shoes,` and so on. 02br
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00I would like to know whether people use this or not.02br
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00Thanks in advance. 0-
  

Top answer

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9 Answers
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0Western individualism aside 05000 ,01i00if I had been you02i00 is perfectly fine, and so is 01i00if I had been in your shoes02i00.02br
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01i00if I were you 02i00expresses an imagined present.02br
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00 Here's some advice for what to do going forward in time from the time of the
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01cite10Aoko12cite10Hi, I am an English teacher in Japan.12br
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10I know ` If I were you, I would ~~~`. But, does anyone say `If I had been you, I would have p.p.~~`???12br
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10I think `If I were you`means `If I was(were) in your shoes,` or` If I was(were) in this situation`, or `If I was (w
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0 Thank you Jim and Miky. It was a great help.　 0-
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If I had been you (at that time), I would have invested all my money in XYZ company stocks.


I do not think "if I had been you (at that time)..." is correct at all. The structure seems to suggest that it is indeed possible for ME to be YOU at some point in time in the future - and that it just so happened that at that particular past time i had not been you.
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I agree with the opinion of "anonymous". The previous 2 postings are wrong. You cannot use "If I had been you" as a post-conditional from of "If I were you." You would have to use a different construction such as
“If it had been me…” “Had it been me…” “If I’d been in your position…” “If I’d been in your shoes…”
It is interesting to note that this page and another discussing the same gramma
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AnonymousIt is interesting to note that this page and another discussing the same grammatical issue are the only hits on Google when you use “If I’d been you” as a search term.
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AnonymousThe structure seems to suggest that it is indeed possible for ME to be YOU at some point in time in the future
It suggests no such thing any more than "if I were you" suggests that it's possible for me to be you at any time -- unless you have a very overactive imagination.
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Hi , I am an English teacher in Iran .
To me , in some situations people use ' If I had been in your shoes ,' In fact , they use it when think ,they have missed all uportuonities .Maybe! ..........
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AnonymousTo me , in some situations people use ' If I had been in your shoes ,'
I don't believe ' If I had been in your shoes ....' is wrong Per se. But In the natural scheme of things, people tend to use either one or the other:
Had I been in your shoes....I would not have forgiven him.
If I were in your shoes.....I would make him pay.
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