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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Kindly check this sentence

which one is correct?
'wouldn't it be nice if it were to be 15 °C forever?'
or

'wouldn't it be nice if it were 15 °C forever?'

i'm really confused whether to put 'to be' or if that would be too much. kindly explain because conditionals make it really confusing for me. :/ thank you!!
  

Top answer

'Be to' is a future form indicating a strongly determined set future: I am to be married in June . That is not what is meant here; what is meant is simply a conditional possibility (an improbability here). Therefore, only your second sentence is appropriate to the intent.

— Mister Micawber

  • 'Be to' is a future form indicating a strongly determined set future: I am to be married in June .
  • That is not what is meant here; what is meant is simply a conditional possibility (an improbability here).
  • Therefore, only your second sentence is appropriate to the intent.
  • There is nothing wrong with the grammar of either sentence; the first is just the wrong verb choice.
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3 Answers
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'Be to' is a future form indicating a strongly determined set future: I am to be married in June. That is not what is meant here; what is meant is simply a conditional possibility (an improbability here). Therefore, only your second sentence is appropriate to the intent. There is nothing wrong with the grammar of either sentence; the first is just the wrong verb choice.
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They're both okay by me, but get other opinions.

I think you can even use "forever" in the simple present.

"With this super glue, I'm afraid you're stuck forever."
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I suspect you may also say, "Wouldn't it be nice if it would be like this forever?"
But I wouldn't say it myself. I'd say, ". . . if it were like this forever?"
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