If you should need...

Question

1. "If you should need more information, please telephone our office."

vs.

"If you need more information, please telephone our office."

Is the second sentence correct?What is the difference between the two?

2. "Research shows that parents watch more television than do their children."

vs.

"Research shows that parents watch more television thantheir children."

Again, is the second sentence correct? In both cases, the first sentence is from the textbook and the second one is what I will write.

Thanks.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

nokia1. "If you should need more information, please telephone our office."vs."If you need more information, please telephone our office."

Both are correct. Adding "should" is optional. It makes the statement sound a little more formal, more polite, more professional.

nokia2. "Research shows that parents watch more television than do their children."vs."Research shows that parents watch more television than their children."

Both are correct. Adding "do" is optional. You can end with any of these:

than their children.
than their children do.
than do their children.

This last one is more literary.

nokiathe first sentence is from the textbook and the second one is what I will write.

Write what I wrote or what I would write, not what I will write.

CJ

Mister Micawber · Answer

nokia#1 Is the second sentence correct?What is the difference between the two?

Yes. The latter is primarily AmE; the former is primarily BrE.

nokiaAgain, is the second sentence correct? In both cases, the first sentence is from the textbook and the second one is what I will write.

Again, yes. The textbook included 'do' so that the reader doesn't think for a moment that the parents are watching TV more than they are watching their children. Even though your word order does not bear out that interpretation, the reader may be momentarily confused.

Nokia · Answer

Hi CJ. Is "will write" wrong because it is in the past? Thanks.

CalifJim · Answer

nokiaIs "will write" wrong because it is in the past?

Yes, if you consider that you already wrote it when you posted your question.

But there's another way to look at it. In this other way of looking at it, "will write" is wrong, but not because it is in the past. It's wrong because it's not in the past and not in the future. It's only in the world of your imagination.

There is nothing you wrote in your post that gives us readers any idea that you have any intention to write that sentence again anywhere or at any time in your life in the future. So for us readers, it seems strange for you to say "will", which shows your intention to use the sentence later, perhaps in a letter to a friend, or for some other reason. To us readers you just seem to be saying that you would write that sentence if you ever had to, if there were a reason to do so, if you had the choice, if you suddenly got a crazy urge to write it. So we readers think you are just imagining the possibility of writing the sentence, not that you seriously intend to write it, perhaps as soon as you can find a pen and some paper to do that. That's why "will" sounds wrong.

CJ

Nokia · Answer

Thanks CJ. Thanks MM.

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