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Guest Posted 22 years ago
Grammar
Just as ... if ...
One of my friend's students created such a sentence as "I was just as sad if my girlfriend wasn't happy." I think this sentence is awkward-sounding. After putting a second thought to why I find it odd-sounding, I've worked out an explanation for myself as well as for my friend. That is, it sounds as much as to say "Even if my girlfriend wasn't happy, I was just as sad as I was if she was happy." So, I suggest that this sentence should be modified a little bit--"I was just as sad if my girlfriend was happy." Only in doing so, the sentence could make sense to me. Actually, I don't understand what the student had previously meant to say by this sentence. If the student intended to say,"I was sad because my girlfriend wasn't happy," I think the original sentence would sound closer to this meaning only after it is changed into "If my girlfriend wasn't happy, I was just as sad." I am not one hundred percent sure if my above understanding is correct. Would you please help to substantiate my thinking? Or, please negate it if I am wrong in some way.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
Top answer
To me, there is something wrong with the tenses. " "If" is a conditional, but in this case, we are dealing with something that has already happened, so it's a known fact, not a condition. I feel unable to comment further, without knowing what the original student intended to say.
- To me, there is something wrong with the tenses.
- " "If" is a conditional, but in this case, we are dealing with something that has already happened, so it's a known fact, not a condition.
- I feel unable to comment further, without knowing what the original student intended to say.
- If, indeed, he is trying to say that he shared his girlfriend's sadness, then the meaning is made clearer by the change you suggested, of talking about the girlfriend FIRST.
- Otherwise, you are left waiting until the end of the sentence to discover what it was he was "just as sad" about.
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1 Answers
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To me, there is something wrong with the tenses.
It would make more sense to say: "I was just as sad WHEN my girlfriend wasn't happy."
"If" is a conditional, but in this case, we are dealing with something that has already happened, so it's a known fact, not a condition.
I feel unable to comment further, without knowing what the original student intended to say.
It would make more sense to say: "I was just as sad WHEN my girlfriend wasn't happy."
"If" is a conditional, but in this case, we are dealing with something that has already happened, so it's a known fact, not a condition.
I feel unable to comment further, without knowing what the original student intended to say.
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