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Ant_222 Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Old-style third conditional?
Greetings,
In "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" I have found a very strange form of third conditional, if third conditional it is:
Ex. 1: «...had I risked the experiment while under the empire of generous or pious aspirations, all must have been otherwise, and from these agonies of death and birth, I had come forth an angel instead of a fiend.»
Ex. 2: «I gnashed my teeth upon him with a gust of devilish fury; and the smile withered from his face — happily for him — yet more happily for myself, for in another instant I had certainly dragged him from his perch.»
In both these sentences the underlined "had" seems to be used where a modern writer would have put "would have" to make it a proper 3rd conditional. Don't you think so?
Thanks in advance,
Anton
In "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" I have found a very strange form of third conditional, if third conditional it is:
Ex. 1: «...had I risked the experiment while under the empire of generous or pious aspirations, all must have been otherwise, and from these agonies of death and birth, I had come forth an angel instead of a fiend.»
Ex. 2: «I gnashed my teeth upon him with a gust of devilish fury; and the smile withered from his face — happily for him — yet more happily for myself, for in another instant I had certainly dragged him from his perch.»
In both these sentences the underlined "had" seems to be used where a modern writer would have put "would have" to make it a proper 3rd conditional. Don't you think so?
Thanks in advance,
Anton
Top answer
Ant_222 In both these sentences the underlined "had" seems to be used where a modern writer would have put "would have" to make it a proper 3rd conditional. Don't you think so? Oh yes, indeed.
- Ant_222 In both these sentences the underlined "had" seems to be used where a modern writer would have put "would have" to make it a proper 3rd conditional.
- Don't you think so?
- Oh yes, indeed.
- Good detective work!
- Or was it good instincts for language?!
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4 Answers
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Ant_222In both these sentences the underlined "had" seems to be used where a modern writer would have put "would have" to make it a proper 3rd conditional. Don't you think so?Oh yes, indeed. Good detective work! Or was it good instincts for language?!
I don't recall ever seeing a single case of this substitution in modern English. This patter
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CJ,
This question is not related to the original post, but is it OK to use two punctuation marks after a sentence, as you did below.
Thanks,
Tyro
This question is not related to the original post, but is it OK to use two punctuation marks after a sentence, as you did below.
Thanks,
Tyro
CalifJimAnt_222In both these sentences the underlined "had" seems to be used where a modern writer would have put "would have" to make it a proper 3rd conditional. Don't you think so?
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CalifJimOr was it good instincts for language?!I don't hold myself as having them developed. There's probably much more in the book wherewith my intuition would have failed me, had my imagination not been so enthralled as to make me swallow the text without a cough. I wasn't even conscious of how difficult the text sometimes got. What a talent!
A boo
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tyro is it OK to use two punctuation marks after a sentence, as you did below.Only in casual style. I would not recommend it in formal writing.
CJ
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