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Stenka25 Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

MIXED TIME in conditional sentences

MIXED TIME in conditional sentences

The passage below is from ‘the Blank Slate’ by Steven Pinker.

http://evolbiol.ru/blankslate/blankslate.htm

How might we explain why Rex just walked over to the phone? We would not say that phone-shaped stimuli caused Rex's limbs to swing in certain arcs. Rather, we might say that he wanted to speak to his friend Cecile and knew that Cecile was home. No explanation has as much predictive power as that one. If Rex was no longer on speaking terms with Cecile, or if he remembered that Cecile was out bowling that night, his body would not have risen off the couch.

In this underlined passage, it seems to fit into the last case, that is, ‘using mixed time.’
But I still thing the ‘was’ in ‘Rex was no longer on speaking terms with’ can be ‘had been.’

Am I right?

http://ajaja.paradoxinc.org/Advanced/Writing/ConditionalSentences.html
UNTRUE(CONTRARY TO FACT) IN THE PRESENT/FUTURE
(i) If I taught this class, I wouldn't give tests.
(j) If he were here right now, he would help us.
(k) If I were you, I would accept their invitation.

https://www.facebook.com/voalearningenglish/posts/375758919126389
UNTRUE(CONTRARY TO FACT) IN THE PAST
(l) If you had told me about the problem, I would have helped you.

http://tatengstu.blogspot.kr/2014/12/using-mixed-time-in-conditional.html
USING MIXED TIME in conditional sentences
c) TRUE: He is not a good student. He did not study for the test yesterday.
d) CONDITIONAL If he were a good student, he would have studied for the test yesterday.
  
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