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Laborious Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Q18: A few things about the sentence "You were not as I thought you would be.", please

Hello there teachers,

I have a few questions and doubts about the following sentence. Could you please help me with them?

Here is the sentence:

1) You were not as I thought you would be.

- By saying 'were not', I'm making a reference to a time in the past, I'm not concerned with how he/she is (or might be) now. My focus is on the past. So, I wanted to ask you If another past simple tense (thought) is appropriate in that sentence, please. Should I use the 'past perfect', instead? For ex You were not as I had thought you would be.

- Which is more idiomatic to you, teachers, 'would be' or just 'were'? For ex You were not as I thought you were.

Thanks to all of you.
  

Top answer

Laborious You were not as I thought you would be. This is the most idiomatic version. Laborious You were not as I had thought you would be.

— CalifJim

  • Laborious You were not as I thought you would be.
  • This is the most idiomatic version.
  • Laborious You were not as I had thought you would be.
  • This is also correct, but less common in my judgment.
  • Laborious You were not as I thought you were.
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3 Answers
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LaboriousYou were not as I thought you would be.
This is the most idiomatic version.
LaboriousYou were not as I had thought you would be.
This is also correct, but less common in my judgment.
LaboriousYou were not as I thought you were.
This is least idiomatic of the three, but it's gramma
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Thank you, teacher CJ, for your reply.

Could you tell me the difference between these two sentences, please?

- You were not as I thought you would be.

- You are not as I thought you would be.

Thank you.
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Laboriousdifference
Past and present. Nothing more mysterious about them. Emotion: smile

CJ
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