Let's say we did/had done 10 million tests
Consider the underlined sentence, please:
D. TRUMP: So you hear about all these cases. So instead of doing 25 million tests, let's say we did 10 million tests, we'd look like we were doing much better because we'd have far fewer cases. You understand that.
Did he mean:
a) If we had done 10 million tests, we'd look like we were doing much better because we'd have far fewer cases. ( a mixed conditional sentence)
OR
b) Suppose we did 10 million tests, we'd look like we were doing much better because we'd have far fewer cases. (a pure second conditional sentence)
Can I replace "were" with "are" in a) or b)?
Top answer
Many (perhaps even most) native speakers are unable to correctly produce the "if we had done" pattern to express a past counterfactual. g. "if we did", and all sorts of mangled mixtures such as the execrable "if we had have done".
- Many (perhaps even most) native speakers are unable to correctly produce the "if we had done" pattern to express a past counterfactual.
- g.
- "if we did", and all sorts of mangled mixtures such as the execrable "if we had have done".
- " without researching how he generally expresses this.
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Many (perhaps even most) native speakers are unable to correctly produce the "if we had done" pattern to express a past counterfactual. Instead they resort to e.g. "if we did", and all sorts of mangled mixtures such as the execrable "if we had have done". I think there is no way to be certain whether actually Trump meant "let's say we'd done ..." without researching how he generally expresses
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