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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
subjunctive mood: Is this grammatically incorrect?
The sentence is: "The interview could be cancelled if the reporter had arrived late."
"The interview could have been cancelled" sounds much more natural but is the sentence above "grammatically" incorrect in any case?
How about a situation like this?
"If the reporter had arrived late, the decision to cancel the interview could be made now (or soon after this moment)."
In some cases, the condition clause is subjunctive past perfect, and its apodosis is subjunctive past, such as:
If I had not had the map, I would not be here now.
Is the sentence still grammatically incorrect in any case? Please let me know.
"The interview could have been cancelled" sounds much more natural but is the sentence above "grammatically" incorrect in any case?
How about a situation like this?
"If the reporter had arrived late, the decision to cancel the interview could be made now (or soon after this moment)."
In some cases, the condition clause is subjunctive past perfect, and its apodosis is subjunctive past, such as:
If I had not had the map, I would not be here now.
Is the sentence still grammatically incorrect in any case? Please let me know.
Top answer
Anonymous is the sentence above "grammatically" incorrect in any case? I can think of no reasonable case in which it would be correct. " I cannot imagine that.
- Anonymous is the sentence above "grammatically" incorrect in any case?
- I can think of no reasonable case in which it would be correct.
- " I cannot imagine that.
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5 Answers
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Anonymousis the sentence above "grammatically" incorrect in any case?I can think of no reasonable case in which it would be correct.
AnonymousHow about a situation like this?"If the reporter had arrived late, the decision to cancel the interview could be made now (or soon after this moment)."I cannot imagine that.
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AnonymousThe sentence is: "The interview could be cancelled if the reporter had arrived late.""The interview could have been cancelled" sounds much more natural but is the sentence above "grammatically" incorrect in any case?There are a variety of mixed conditionals, and this pattern is one of them.
However, the sentence seems logically flawed. It just ma
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Thank you for your comment. It doesn't sound natural to me either,
but I cannot explain why it is not grammatically correct.
When the condition is past perfect and its apodosis simple past,
should the apodosis be not a dynamic verb but a stative verb?
but I cannot explain why it is not grammatically correct.
When the condition is past perfect and its apodosis simple past,
should the apodosis be not a dynamic verb but a stative verb?
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Anonymousbut I cannot explain why it is not grammatically correct.My comment was that it IS grammatically correct, insomuch as it follows a grammatical pattern that is in use.
So is the following sentence "grammatically correct."
Curious frazzles are greening maliciously.
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