Tense backshifting
"Tusk warned that talks over the terms of Britain’s exit would fail before they even began if emotions continued to run wild." (The Guardian.)
Is "will", "begin", and "continue" shifted to "would", "began", and "continued" in the sentence above? Or in other words, is conditional "exit would fail before they even began if emotions continued to run wild" formed from the conditional type 1 "exit will fail before they even begin if emotions continue to run wild" in the cited sentence?
Top answer
Anonymous Tusk warned that talks over the terms of Britain’s exit would fail before they even began if emotions continued to run wild. Tusk said, "Talks over the terms of Britain's exit will fail before they even begin if emotions continue to run wild". Anonymous Is "will", "begin", and "continue" shifted to "would", "began", and "continued" in the sentence above?
- Anonymous Tusk warned that talks over the terms of Britain’s exit would fail before they even began if emotions continued to run wild.
- Tusk said, "Talks over the terms of Britain's exit will fail before they even begin if emotions continue to run wild".
- Anonymous Is "will", "begin", and "continue" shifted to "would", "began", and "continued" in the sentence above?
- Yes.
- Anonymous Or in other words, is ...
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AnonymousTusk warned that talks over the terms of Britain’s exit would fail before they even began if emotions continued to run wild.
Tusk said, "Talks over the terms of Britain's exit will fail before they even begin if emotions continue to run wild".
AnonymousIs "will", "begin", and "continue" shifted to "would", "began", and "
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