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K.O. Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
some verb chain
Kneeling, the doctor touched his hand to the victim's throat in a manner that would have been entirely convincing
had be been checking a body for a pulse. Since the patient's eyes could be seen fluttering in his head such checking seemed entirely redundant.
Hi, I am looking for the syntactic description of the verb chain highlighted above . Thanks.
had be been checking a body for a pulse. Since the patient's eyes could be seen fluttering in his head such checking seemed entirely redundant.
Hi, I am looking for the syntactic description of the verb chain highlighted above . Thanks.
Top answer
O. I believe this is misquoted. It's "had he been checking", an inversion of "he had been checking" used to mean "if he had been checking".
- O.
- I believe this is misquoted.
- It's "had he been checking", an inversion of "he had been checking" used to mean "if he had been checking".
- The verb tense is "past perfect progressive".
- CJ
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2 Answers
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K.O.
I believe this is misquoted. It's "had he been checking", an inversion of "he had been checking" used to mean "if he had been checking". The verb tense is "past perfect progressive".
CJ
I believe this is misquoted. It's "had he been checking", an inversion of "he had been checking" used to mean "if he had been checking". The verb tense is "past perfect progressive".
CJ
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