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Diamondrg Posted 20 years ago
Grammar
third type
"If the dog would have seen that train I'm afraid it would have been the end of the pupster," Strand said.
Why do you think the writer has used "would have seen" instead of "had seen"? What is the difference?
here
Why do you think the writer has used "would have seen" instead of "had seen"? What is the difference?
here
Top answer
You raised an interesting question. I found a lecture note on conditionals in an online site and it says as follows: In "informal spoken English", many people use "would have" in both the "if" clause and the result clause of conditional sentences referring to contrary to fact conditions in the past. Example: If I would have known about the quiz, I would have studied more.
- You raised an interesting question.
- I found a lecture note on conditionals in an online site and it says as follows: In "informal spoken English", many people use "would have" in both the "if" clause and the result clause of conditional sentences referring to contrary to fact conditions in the past.
- Example: If I would have known about the quiz, I would have studied more.
- This is "not appropriate for academic uses".
- The correct form is: If I had known about the quiz, I would have studied more.
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5 Answers
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You raised an interesting question. I found a lecture note on conditionals in an online site and it says as follows:
In "informal spoken English", many people use "would have" in both the "if" clause and the result clause of conditional sentences referring to contrary to fact conditions in the past. Example: If I would have known about the quiz, I would have studied mo
In "informal spoken English", many people use "would have" in both the "if" clause and the result clause of conditional sentences referring to contrary to fact conditions in the past. Example: If I would have known about the quiz, I would have studied mo
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It may well be an AmE usage; I don't often hear it in spoken British English.
MrP
MrP
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Paco2004Thank you paco and MrP.
Here we may read "informal spoken English" as "English spoken among people who are not well educated linguistically" and "not appropriate for academic uses" as "grammatically incorrect".
paco
But can someone who writes in a national newspaper (usatoday) be not well educated linguistically? and w
00
Well, it seems to be a report of what someone has said; so presumably the writer didn't feel he could change it!
MrP
MrP
00
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