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Kilimanjaro Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

unless with reference to past

Hi,

This is what BBC says about the usage of unless;

We cannot use unless with would to talk about unreal future situations:

If he didn't take everything so seriously, he would be much easier to work with.

If he weren't so bad-tempered, I would help him to get the work done

We cannot use unless with would have to talk about unreal situations in the past either:

If you hadn't driven so recklessly, you wouldn't have had this accident.

If you hadn't had that last glass of wine, this would never have happened.

http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv272.shtml

These are the examples I've found out on another site.

a. The elephant wouldn't have seen the mouse unless she'd had perfect eyesight.

b. I wouldn't have phoned him unless you'd suggested it.

c. They would have shot her unless she'd given them the money.

My question is: Can we use unless with "would" and "would have + participle" in main clauses to talk about hypothatical situations as in the examples above. What's the catch?
  

Top answer

Can we use unless in main clauses As soon as you add unless it becomes a subordinate clause. There are therefore no clauses with unless which are main clauses. Anyway, I did not understand the BBC's idea of the usage of unless .

— CalifJim

  • Can we use unless in main clauses As soon as you add unless it becomes a subordinate clause.
  • There are therefore no clauses with unless which are main clauses.
  • Anyway, I did not understand the BBC's idea of the usage of unless .
  • Not one of their examples showed an incorrect sentence with unless , which is what I would have expected.
  • Was that all they said?
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6 Answers
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Can we use unless in main clauses
As soon as you add unless it becomes a subordinate clause. There are therefore no clauses with unless which are main clauses.

Anyway, I did not understand the BBC's idea of the usage of unless. Not one of their examples showed an incorrect sentence with unless, which is what I would have expected.
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CalifJim
Can we use unless in main clauses
As soon as you add unless it becomes a subordinate clause. There are therefore no clauses with unless which are main clauses.

Anyway, I did not understand the BBC's idea of the usage of unless. Not one of their examples showed an incorrect sentence with unless, which i
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Link not working. Takes me to a search of "http", so something may be wrong with the way you set it up.
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CalifJimLink not working. Takes me to a search of "http", so something may be wrong with the way you set it up.
It's ok now. Here:

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OK. I got through this time, but it didn't help because I still don't quite understand what their point is!

It does seem however that the sentences they use as illustrations could not be easily recast with unless.
I can see the idea of future unreal in the first two, but I don't see how that idea relates to the second two.

If he didn't take everything so seriou
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You can/could help him; unless he wants to do it himself. If he does (indeed want to do it himself), don't do it.

unless ? if not

'Unless' says that something else is or will be or was (likely to be) the fact. As it says what the fact is, it cannot be used to say about unreal situations that are impossible or highly unlikely. 'Unless' provides an afterthought.

It was strange

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