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Jack112 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Past Perfect

Scenario: There is a sale for this Sony LCD and it's $300. I bought it for $350 back then.

Are these correct? What do they mean?
1. I would save $50 if I hadn't bought that LCD back then.
2. I would have saved $50 if I hadn't bought that LCD back then. (Is it incorrect to use past perfect here? I wouldn't have saved anything back then right? It wasn't on sale before? So should I use the present tense imaginary 'would' instead? It is on sale now?)

Thanks.
  

Top answer

Hello Jack If we suppose that the Sony LCD is a special offer – $300! reduced from $350! – then: 1.

— MrPedantic

  • Hello Jack If we suppose that the Sony LCD is a special offer – $300!
  • reduced from $350!
  • – then: 1.
  • I would save $50 if I hadn't bought that LCD back then.
  • This conflates two thoughts: 1a.
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41 Answers
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Hello Jack

If we suppose that the Sony LCD is a special offer – $300! reduced from $350! – then:

1. I would save $50 if I hadn't bought that LCD back then.

This conflates two thoughts:

1a. I would save $50 if I bought that LCD now, because it's reduced from $350.
1b. But I can't buy that LCD now, because I've already got one.

Which =
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0 Scenario: There is a sale for this Sony LCD and it's $300. I bought it for $350 back then. 02br
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00Are these correct? What do they mean? 02br
001. I would save $50 if I hadn't bought that LCD back then. 02br
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00JTT: This is simply nonsensical, Jack. No one needs grammar to tell them that once some money has been spent, it is imposs
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0 I have a little problem here. I don't know if I should use past tense or past perfect for asking questions. 02br
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00Scenario: My dad asks me if I took his car key yesterday and he says: 02br
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00Which one should I use? Why? How do I know which one I should use? 02br
001. If you 01b00didn't02b00 do it , you would
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0 Are these correct? What do they mean? 02br
001. I would save $50 if I hadn't bought that LCD back then. 02br
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00JTT: This is simply nonsensical, Jack. No one needs grammar to tell them that once some money has been spent, it is impossible to save it. 02br
01h2

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01h2

02h2

01h2

02h2

01h2

02h

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0 Hello Jack 02br
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00I would use this form, instead of the ones you suggest: 02br
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00'Did you take my car keys yesterday, Jack?' 02br
00'Well...' 02br
00'Look, if you didn't take them, you don't have to worry. But if you did take them, you're in big trouble.' 02br
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00For the question, you could use #3
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0 How come I can just use past tense? Or there are no conditionals here? Why don't I need past perfect to refer to an past event? 02br
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00For example: 02br
00Conditional #3: 02br
001. If I hadn't done that, that would have never happened. 02
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0 Hello Jack 02br
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00Looks you are still stuck to conditionals. 02br
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00Conditionals can be sorted into two kinds according to situations; 02br
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01i00 Neutral Conditional 02br
00The speaker doesn't know whether the protasis (= the event stated in the if-clause) is true or untrue. 02br
00type #
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0 Pastel: 02br
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00Hi, JTT! 02br
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00JTT: Hi, Pastel. 02br
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00P: 02br
00I don't get your meaning here. 02br
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00I would save some dollars if I hadn't bought Panasonic DC-FX7. I have to learn to make peace with it now. 02br
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00JTT: As I mentioned in a
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0 Jack: 02br
00I have a little problem here. I don't know if I should use past tense or past perfect for asking questions. 02br
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00JTT: I think your confusion may rest with waht you actually see. You should get used to calling them past tense FORM or past perfect FORM, Jack, because sometimes it's just the FORM that is being used. 02br
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0 Hello JTT 02br
01blockquote
00"I would save some dollars" contains a future meaning, NOT a past meaning. 10 is NOT a past tense here. REMEMBER, modal verbs are tenseless.12br
10I'm wondering why you could be so assertive about that 10 contains a future meaning. Suppose a boy utter a sentence like: "I would save 50 cents if I didn't buy this popsic
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