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ILE Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
If you draw/drew a line here, ....... Which is correct?
If you draw/drew a line here, it’s not hard to see why it should be so.
I've heard one of the native speakers chosen the word "drew", so I'd follow his version but I'm kind of wonderng if both of them work in the mentioned example above.
Thanks.
Isabelle
I've heard one of the native speakers chosen the word "drew", so I'd follow his version but I'm kind of wonderng if both of them work in the mentioned example above.
Thanks.
Isabelle
Top answer
Both would work. It's not hard to see (something or other) if you draw a line here (now or in the future). OR if you drew a line here (now or in the future hypothetically, or in the past).
- Both would work.
- It's not hard to see (something or other) if you draw a line here (now or in the future).
- OR if you drew a line here (now or in the future hypothetically, or in the past).
- The second is a bit more ambiguous and would require more context to clarify it.
- CJ
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4 Answers
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Both would work.
It's not hard to see (something or other) if you draw a line here (now or in the future).
OR
if you drew a line here (now or in the future hypothetically, or in the past).
The second is a bit more ambiguous and would require more context to clarify it.
CJ
It's not hard to see (something or other) if you draw a line here (now or in the future).
OR
if you drew a line here (now or in the future hypothetically, or in the past).
The second is a bit more ambiguous and would require more context to clarify it.
CJ
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Hi CJ, thanks for the reply and about the second sentence "If you drew a line here, ...", the intended situation is as follows:
Says that I'm explaning why the slope of the tangent line to the curve at the specific x-coordinate is 3. So I say, "If we drew a line here, we could see that we go up three units and right 1 unit. Hence, I'd say the slo
Says that I'm explaning why the slope of the tangent line to the curve at the specific x-coordinate is 3. So I say, "If we drew a line here, we could see that we go up three units and right 1 unit. Hence, I'd say the slo
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ILEIf we drew a line here, we could see that we go up three units and right 1 unit. Hence, I'd say the slope of the tangent line is approximately 3.Grammatically correct. Although 'drew' is formally the past tense, it is conceptually an indicator of an imagined (hypothetical) operation regarding your graph. So in this context it completely loses its meaning
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Now I've a complete understanding about this! 
A BIG BIG thanks to you, CJ!
Isabelle
A BIG BIG thanks to you, CJ!Isabelle
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