Talking about a hypothetical situation

Question

Hi,This sentence is by a standup comedian who was talking hypothetically about the inauguration of a country’s president. I am not sure if I caught it correctly. It is like the worst nightmare at the inauguration would have been the president going “ Hoooo hu la la…”Thanks,MG.

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

Yes, that's possible. Did you have a particular query or concern about it?

Musicgold · Answer

Thanks.

No, I was trying to imitate the commedian but I was not sure what exactly he said there.

I want to know the structure that can be used to talk about things hypotheically. Would be great if you could give some examples.

Mr Wordy · Answer

MusicgoldI want to know the structure that can be used to talk about things hypothetically.

The typical structure is "if ... would", as in "If I believed in ***, I would go to church". See e.g.:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conditional.htm

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-conditional_3.htm

In your sentence, ignore "It is like...". This is just an informal way of leading up to the statement that doesn't really add much meaning. That leaves you with:

"The worst nightmare at the inauguration would have been the president going 'Hoooo hu la la…'"

In this case there is no explicit "if": the word "would" does all the work in indicating the hypothetical nature of the situation described. Some other examples like this:

"That would have been my greatest triumph." (but it wasn't)

"The biggest problem would have been the overheating." (but it wasn't, because, for example, we did it another way)

"It would be a great benefit." (if it happened)

Musicgold · Answer

Mr. Wordy, thanks a lot. That is a great explanation.

Talking about a hypothetical situation

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