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Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
Long questions on conditional sentences
Hi,
1.How are they different? I think the first one is mixed conditional and the second one is a third conditional sentence. Both seem to contain the notion of unreality (hypothetical?) to the unlikely past actions
1.I were rich, I would have bought the house when it was on sale.
2. If I had been rich, I would have bought the house when it was on sale.
2. How would I know if any of these need to be second condtional (subjunctive??) sentences?
I got these sentence bits from the Google book search (I hope I type them right) :
1. If I was baptized the right way, God would be gracious. -- I think this shoud be the subjunctive because I sense unreality (or hypotherical) in the sentence, thus shoud be: If I were baptized ...
2. If I was restless during the service, she would give me something to eat. -- I think this is OK as a backshift of the first conditional, but as I think what CalifJim has said (might have said?) (according my unreliable vague recollection), most of the times, people would write this kind of structural sentence like "If I were restless during the service, she would give me something to eat.
3. If I was at all curious -- which I am not -- I might askyou what you you're doing in such a house -- Ditto as no. 2's argument: I think most likely people would have written: If I were at all curious -- which I am not -- I might ask you what you're doing in such a house."
1.How are they different? I think the first one is mixed conditional and the second one is a third conditional sentence. Both seem to contain the notion of unreality (hypothetical?) to the unlikely past actions
1.I were rich, I would have bought the house when it was on sale.
2. If I had been rich, I would have bought the house when it was on sale.
2. How would I know if any of these need to be second condtional (subjunctive??) sentences?
I got these sentence bits from the Google book search (I hope I type them right) :
1. If I was baptized the right way, God would be gracious. -- I think this shoud be the subjunctive because I sense unreality (or hypotherical) in the sentence, thus shoud be: If I were baptized ...
2. If I was restless during the service, she would give me something to eat. -- I think this is OK as a backshift of the first conditional, but as I think what CalifJim has said (might have said?) (according my unreliable vague recollection), most of the times, people would write this kind of structural sentence like "If I were restless during the service, she would give me something to eat.
3. If I was at all curious -- which I am not -- I might askyou what you you're doing in such a house -- Ditto as no. 2's argument: I think most likely people would have written: If I were at all curious -- which I am not -- I might ask you what you're doing in such a house."
Top answer
1. If I was baptized the right way, *** would be gracious. -- I think this shoud be the subjunctive because I sense unreality (or hypotherical) in the sentence, thus shoud be: If I were baptized ...
- 1.
- If I was baptized the right way, *** would be gracious.
- -- I think this shoud be the subjunctive because I sense unreality (or hypotherical) in the sentence, thus shoud be: If I were baptized ...
- [ Yes but only if the context is present time.
- In this case, was is the informal version, were the formal one.
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1 Answers
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1. If I was baptized the right way, *** would be gracious. -- I think this shoud be the subjunctive because I sense unreality (or hypotherical) in the sentence, thus shoud be: If I were baptized ... [Yes but only if the context is present time. In this case, was is the informal version, were the formal one. If past time, see 2. We can't tell without context the time
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