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Austere125rivers Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Tomorrow if I saw him I would smile at him?

Tomorrow if I saw him I would smile at him?
Is this construction correct or not and why?
  

Top answer

"tomorrow" is in the wrong place. Otherwise, it's OK. If I saw him tomorrow, I would smile at him.

— CalifJim

  • "tomorrow" is in the wrong place.
  • Otherwise, it's OK.
  • If I saw him tomorrow, I would smile at him.
  • Because of the "if" and the "would", the form "saw" is not interpreted as a past reality, but as a non-past hypothetical.
  • You're just imagining that you might see him tomorrow.
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5 Answers
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"tomorrow" is in the wrong place. Otherwise, it's OK.

If I saw him tomorrow, I would smile at him.

Because of the "if" and the "would", the form "saw" is not interpreted as a past reality, but as a non-past hypothetical. You're just imagining that you might see him tomorrow.

CJ
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If there is at least a fair possibility of seeing him the next day, you might want to make a couple of changes.

If I see him tomorrow, I will smile at him.
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Thank you CalifJim, in fact my question was because I wanted to understand the conditional.
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Aspara Gus If I see him tomorrow, I will smile at him.
That's the only thing I would say.
.
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austere125rivers... because I wanted to understand the conditional
Oh. OK. Be careful. It's tricky because, as you see, the past tense is not used with its usual meaning in conditional constructions.

CJ
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